aircraft carrier

/ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ/

//ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ// noun

"aircraft-carrier" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A warship designed to carry aircraft, serving as a seagoing air base, with a deck on which aircraft can be launched and landed.

Key facts for aircraft carrier
PropertyValue
Headwordaircraft carrier
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ/
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “aircraft carrier” sits in English frequency

aircraft carrier 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

aircraft carrier is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A warship designed to carry aircraft, serving as a seagoing air base, with a deck on which aircraft can be launched and landed.".

aircraft carrier has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is aircraft carrier, spelled A-I-R-C-R-A-F-T- -C-A-R-R-I-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A warship designed to carry aircraft, serving as a seagoing air base, with a deck on which aircraft can be launched and landed.

Synonyms

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 "aircraft carrier"?
"aircraft carrier" is spelled A-I-R-C-R-A-F-T- -C-A-R-R-I-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ/.
What does "aircraft carrier" mean?
As a noun, "aircraft carrier" means: A warship designed to carry aircraft, serving as a seagoing air base, with a deck on which aircraft can be launched and landed.
How do you pronounce "aircraft carrier"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "aircraft carrier" is /ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "aircraft carrier" come from?
"aircraft carrier" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 “aircraft carrier”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is A-I-R-C-R-A-F-T- -C-A-R-R-I-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈɛːɹ.kɹæft kʰɛɹːiɚ/ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list