underarm
/ˈʌndɚˌɑɹm/
"underarm" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“underarm” is uncommon English (frequency #61,190 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,190
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The armpit.
Corpus desk
Index EN-underarm · underarm · English
underarm · rank #61,190 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #61,190
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH uncultured
Nearest frequency peer: uncultured (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “underarm”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- uncommitted
uncommitted
38,814 corpus weight
- unconstrain…
unconstrained
38,813 corpus weight
- uncultured
uncultured
38,812 corpus weight
- underarm
underarm
38,811 corpus weight
- underpowered
underpowered
38,810 corpus weight
- unlockable
unlockable
38,809 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “underarm” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | underarm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʌndɚˌɑɹm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #61,190 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “underarm” in English
Rare enough to double-check
underarm is uncommon English at frequency #61,190 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈʌndɚˌɑɹm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for underarm in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From under- + arm. The armpit sense is not old, historically speaking (1920s), and it is believed to have arisen as a euphemism in advertising. The correct English form is underarm, spelled U-N-D-E-R-A-R-M.
Definition
- 1The armpit.
- 2Old-fashioned and now outlawed style of bowling in which the arm is not swung over the shoulder.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how underarm appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
underarm deodorant
Etymology
From under- + arm. The armpit sense is not old, historically speaking (1920s), and it is believed to have arisen as a euphemism in advertising.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "underarm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).