underwire
"underwire" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“underwire” is uncommon English (frequency #71,195 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,195
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A semicircular wire placed in a bra to support the breasts.
Corpus desk
Index EN-underwire · underwire · English
underwire · rank #71,195 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #71,195
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH unders
Nearest frequency peer: unders (-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 “underwire”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- ulama
ulama
28,809 corpus weight
- unders
unders
28,807 corpus weight
- underwire
underwire
28,806 corpus weight
- undiminished
undiminished
28,805 corpus weight
- unenthusias…
unenthusiastic
28,804 corpus weight
- usefull
usefull
28,802 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “underwire” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | underwire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #71,195 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “underwire” in English
Rare enough to double-check
underwire is uncommon English at frequency #71,195 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for underwire, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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- + wire. The correct English form is underwire, spelled U-N-D-E-R-W-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1A semicircular wire placed in a bra to support the breasts.
- 2A bra that includes such wires.
Etymology
From under- + wire.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "underwire", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).