the whole world and his dog

noun

"the-whole-world-and-his-dog" is a 22-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“the whole world and his dog” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
27
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Everybody; too many people; a huge crowd.

Corpus desk

Index EN-the-whole-world-and-his- · the whole world and his dog · English

the whole world and his dog · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 27 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "T" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for the whole world and his dog
PropertyValue
Headwordthe whole world and his dog
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters27
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “the whole world and his dog” in English

the whole world and his dogranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

the whole world and his dog is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Everybody; too many people; a huge crowd.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for the whole world and his dog in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is the whole world and his dog, spelled T-H-E- -W-H-O-L-E- -W-O-R-L-D- -A-N-D- -H-I-S- -D-O-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Everybody; too many people; a huge crowd.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how the whole world and his dog appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I'd love to go to the Harry Potter opening, but the whole world and his dog will be there and I don't like crowds

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "the whole world and his dog"?
"the whole world and his dog" is spelled T-H-E- -W-H-O-L-E- -W-O-R-L-D- -A-N-D- -H-I-S- -D-O-G.
What does "the whole world and his dog" mean?
As a noun, "the whole world and his dog" means: Everybody; too many people; a huge crowd.
What language does "the whole world and his dog" come from?
"the whole world and his dog" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list