thunderstruck
/ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/
"thunderstruck" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“thunderstruck” is an uncommon English word, ranked #71,976 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #71,976
- frequency rank, English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Astonished, amazed or so suddenly surprised as to be unable to speak.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | thunderstruck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #71,976 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “thunderstruck” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for thunderstruck is 13 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/. Corpus data places it at rank #71,976 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Astonished, amazed or so suddenly surprised as to be unable to speak.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for thunderstruck in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From thunder + struck. Compare synonymous and cognate Latin attonitus. Also compare typologically Ancient Greek ἐμβρόντητος (embróntētos) (< βροντή (brontḗ)) (whence Greek εμβρόντητος (emvróntitos)); Czech ohromený (< ohromit), Bulgarian като ударен от гръм… The correct English form is thunderstruck, spelled T-H-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-R-U-C-K.
Definition
- 1Astonished, amazed or so suddenly surprised as to be unable to speak.
Etymology
From thunder + struck. Compare synonymous and cognate Latin attonitus. Also compare typologically Ancient Greek ἐμβρόντητος (embróntētos) (< βροντή (brontḗ)) (whence Greek εμβρόντητος (emvróntitos)); Czech ohromený (< ohromit), Bulgarian като ударен от гръм (kato udaren ot grǎm), Russian как гро́мом поражённый (kak grómom poražónnyj) (akin to гром (grom)). See also German wie vom Donner gerührt.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “thunderstruck”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-H-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-R-U-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈθʌn.də.stɹʌk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.