whippet

noun

"whippet" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“whippet” is uncommon English (frequency #71,218 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,218
frequency rank, English
12,113
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A dog of a certain breed, similar to a small greyhound, originating in Britain and bred for racing.

Key facts for whippet
PropertyValue
Headwordwhippet
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#71,218
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “whippet” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). whippet lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

whippet is uncommon English at frequency #71,218 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A dog of a certain breed, similar to a small greyhound, originating in Britain and bred for racing.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for whippet, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from whip (“to move quickly”) + -et. The correct English form is whippet, spelled W-H-I-P-P-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A dog of a certain breed, similar to a small greyhound, originating in Britain and bred for racing.

Etymology

Probably from whip (“to move quickly”) + -et.

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

How do you spell "whippet"?
"whippet" is spelled W-H-I-P-P-E-T.
What does "whippet" mean?
As a noun, "whippet" means: A dog of a certain breed, similar to a small greyhound, originating in Britain and bred for racing.
What is the origin of the word "whippet"?
Probably from whip (“to move quickly”) + -et. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “whippet”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is W-H-I-P-P-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list