# Topsy

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈtɒpsi/ · frequency rank #35,116

## Definitions
1. Something or someone who figuratively grows without control or intention.

## Etymology
After a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), who, asked about God, says "I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." The sense of excessive out-of-control growth is a misunderstanding.

## Easily confused with
- **toy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-toy)
- **TOS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-tos)
- **TPS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-tps)
- **toys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-toys)
- **toss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-toss)
- **Tory** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-tory)
- **tosh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-tosh)
- **torso** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topsy-vs-torso)
- **top** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-topsy)
- **Tony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tony-vs-topsy)
- **tips** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tips-vs-topsy)
- **tons** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tons-vs-topsy)
- **tops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tops-vs-topsy)
- **toes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toes-vs-topsy)
- **toby** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toby-vs-topsy)
- **taps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taps-vs-topsy)
- **today** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/today-vs-topsy)
- **topic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topic-vs-topsy)
- **Tommy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tommy-vs-topsy)
- **toast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toast-vs-topsy)

## Common misspellings (8)
`otpsy`, `toppsy`, `topssy`, `topsyy`, `topys`, `tospy`, `tposy`, `ttopsy`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/topsy