yellow journalism

noun

"yellow-journalism" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“yellow journalism” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Journalism which is sensationalistic and of questionable accuracy and taste.

Key facts for yellow journalism
PropertyValue
Headwordyellow journalism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “yellow journalism” sits in English frequency

yellow journalism falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

yellow journalism is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Journalism which is sensationalistic and of questionable accuracy and taste.".

yellow journalism doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From the comic The Yellow Kid, published in tabloid newspapers. The correct English form is yellow journalism, spelled Y-E-L-L-O-W- -J-O-U-R-N-A-L-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Journalism which is sensationalistic and of questionable accuracy and taste.

Etymology

From the comic The Yellow Kid, published in tabloid newspapers.

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

How do you spell "yellow journalism"?
"yellow journalism" is spelled Y-E-L-L-O-W- -J-O-U-R-N-A-L-I-S-M.
What does "yellow journalism" mean?
As a noun, "yellow journalism" means: Journalism which is sensationalistic and of questionable accuracy and taste.
What is the origin of the word "yellow journalism"?
From the comic The Yellow Kid, published in tabloid newspapers. 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 “yellow journalism”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is Y-E-L-L-O-W- -J-O-U-R-N-A-L-I-S-M - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list