when pigs fly
"when-pigs-fly" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“when pigs fly” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Never.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | when pigs fly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “when pigs fly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for when pigs fly is 13 letters long, classified as an adverb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Never.".
when pigs fly has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Referencing the fact that pigs do not have wings and cannot fly. The correct English form is when pigs fly, spelled W-H-E-N- -P-I-G-S- -F-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Never.
Etymology
Referencing the fact that pigs do not have wings and cannot fly.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “when pigs fly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-H-E-N- -P-I-G-S- -F-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.