underfed
/ˌʌndəɹˈfɛd/
"underfed" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“underfed” is uncommon English (frequency #97,664 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #97,664
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Inadequately fed.
Corpus desk
Index EN-underfed · underfed · English
underfed · rank #97,664 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #97,664
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH unburden
Nearest frequency peer: unburden (-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 “underfed”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- umph
umph
2,339 corpus weight
- unburden
unburden
2,338 corpus weight
- underfed
underfed
2,337 corpus weight
- unethically
unethically
2,336 corpus weight
- UNIVAC
UNIVAC
2,335 corpus weight
- unredacted
unredacted
2,334 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “underfed” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | underfed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌʌndəɹˈfɛd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #97,664 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “underfed” in English
Rare enough to double-check
underfed is uncommon English at frequency #97,664 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌʌndəɹˈfɛd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Inadequately fed.".
underfed doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From under- + fed. The correct English form is underfed, spelled U-N-D-E-R-F-E-D.
Definition
- 1Inadequately fed.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how underfed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[B]ut greater Bombay almost doubles the number of overworked, underhoused and underfed citizens.
Etymology
From under- + fed.
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 "underfed", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).