yours truly

phrase

"yours-truly" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used to close a note or letter.

Corpus desk

Index EN-yours-truly · yours truly · English

yours truly · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "Y" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for yours truly
PropertyValue
Headwordyours truly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPhrase
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “yours truly” in English

yours trulyranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

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

Rare enough to double-check

yours truly is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Used to close a note or letter.".

yours truly has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: Recorded in the late 1700s as a closing in a letter. Since the mid-1800s for "I", "me", or "myself". The correct English form is yours truly, spelled Y-O-U-R-S- -T-R-U-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Used to close a note or letter.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how yours truly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Please write back soon! Yours truly, Alice.

Etymology

Recorded in the late 1700s as a closing in a letter. Since the mid-1800s for "I", "me", or "myself".

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 "yours truly"?
"yours truly" is spelled Y-O-U-R-S- -T-R-U-L-Y.
What does "yours truly" mean?
As a phrase, "yours truly" means: Used to close a note or letter.
What is the origin of the word "yours truly"?
Recorded in the late 1700s as a closing in a letter. Since the mid-1800s for "I", "me", or "myself". 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list