Bachelor or batchelor?
bachelor is a noun meaning “A person, especially a man, who is socially regarded as able to marry but has…”; batchelor is a noun meaning “Archaic spelling of bachelor”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) bachelor is about 28 times as common as batchelor.
What is the difference between bachelor and batchelor?
| bachelor | batchelor | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | A person, especially a man, who is socially regarded as able to marry but has not yet CanadaA bachelor apartment | |
| Example | I shall die a bachelor | none recorded |
| Forms | bachelors | batchelors |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbæt͡ʃ.ə.lə(ɹ)/ /ˈbæt͡ʃ.ə.lɚ/ /ˈbæt͡ʃ.lɚ/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 9.3 times per million words | about once in every 3 million words |
Sources: bachelor and batchelor in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of bachelor and batchelor
bachelor
- 1
A person, especially a man, who is socially regarded as able to marry but has not yet
I shall die a bachelor
- 2
CanadaA bachelor apartment
- 3
A male animal without a mate during breeding season
- 4
The first or lowest academic degree conferred by colleges and universities; a bachelor's degree
- 5
Someone who has achieved a bachelor's degree
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, bachelor or batchelor?
bachelor appears 9.3 times per million words; batchelor about once in every 3 million words.
bachelor 9.3 times per million wordsbatchelor about once in every 3 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).