thumbs up
"thumbs-up" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“thumbs up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A gesture signifying approval or okay; a thumb pointing up out of a fist.
Corpus desk
Index EN-thumbs-up · thumbs up · English
thumbs up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | thumbs up |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “thumbs up” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
thumbs up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for thumbs up, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Said to refer to the signal of approval or disapproval used by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre, but the directions have been reversed, and the Roman gesture was a bent thumb. The correct English form is thumbs up, spelled T-H-U-M-B-S- -U-P.
Definition
- 1A gesture signifying approval or okay; a thumb pointing up out of a fist.
- 2An approval or OK.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how thumbs up appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He smiled and gave a big thumbs up.
We got the thumbs up to go ahead with the project.
Etymology
Said to refer to the signal of approval or disapproval used by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre, but the directions have been reversed, and the Roman gesture was a bent thumb.
Antonyms
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.