whodunit
/ˌhuːˈdʌn.ɪt/
"whodunit" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“whodunit” is an uncommon English word, ranked #72,896 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #72,896
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A novel or drama concerning a crime (usually a murder) in which a detective follows clues to determine the perpetrator.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | whodunit |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌhuːˈdʌn.ɪt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #72,896 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “whodunit” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for whodunit is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌhuːˈdʌn.ɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #72,896 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A novel or drama concerning a crime (usually a murder) in which a detective follows clues to determine the perpetrator.".
whodunit doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by critic Donald Gordon in 1930. Alteration and univerbation of who done it? with ellipsis of has. The correct English form is whodunit, spelled W-H-O-D-U-N-I-T.
Definition
- 1A novel or drama concerning a crime (usually a murder) in which a detective follows clues to determine the perpetrator.
Etymology
Coined by critic Donald Gordon in 1930. Alteration and univerbation of who done it? with ellipsis of has.
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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Using “whodunit”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-H-O-D-U-N-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌhuːˈdʌn.ɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.