thrip

noun

"thrip" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
5
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Optional singular for thrips, an insect of the order Thysanoptera.

Corpus desk

Index EN-thrip · thrip · English

thrip · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • 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 thrip
PropertyValue
Headwordthrip
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “thrip” in English

thripfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

thrip is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Optional singular for thrips, an insect of the order Thysanoptera.".

thrip doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from thrips The correct English form is thrip, spelled T-H-R-I-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Optional singular for thrips, an insect of the order Thysanoptera.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how thrip appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. S.^([Stenchaetothrips]) biformis is also known as rice leaf thrip, paddy thrip, or oriental rice thrip.
  2. A pair of local pests, the thrip and white fly, made their way into the greenhouse through the air vents and hitchhiked into the conservatory on plants. Without controls in place, each female thrip can reproduce 200 offspring every week.

Etymology

Back-formation from thrips

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 "thrip"?
"thrip" is spelled T-H-R-I-P.
What does "thrip" mean?
As a noun, "thrip" means: Optional singular for thrips, an insect of the order Thysanoptera.
What is the origin of the word "thrip"?
Back-formation from thrips See the full etymology section above for more details.
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