through and through

adv

"through-and-through" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“through and through” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
19
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Completely; entirely; fundamentally.

Key facts for through and through
PropertyValue
Headwordthrough and through
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters19
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “through and through” sits in English frequency

through and through falls 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for through and through is 19 letters long, classified as an adverb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Completely; entirely; fundamentally.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for through and through, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is through and through, spelled T-H-R-O-U-G-H- -A-N-D- -T-H-R-O-U-G-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Completely; entirely; fundamentally.

This word in other languages

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 "through and through"?
"through and through" is spelled T-H-R-O-U-G-H- -A-N-D- -T-H-R-O-U-G-H.
What does "through and through" mean?
As an adverb, "through and through" means: Completely; entirely; fundamentally.
What language does "through and through" come from?
"through and through" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “through and through”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is T-H-R-O-U-G-H- -A-N-D- -T-H-R-O-U-G-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list