barbican
/ˈbɑːbɪkən/
"barbican" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“barbican” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #44,079 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #44,079
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | barbican |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɑːbɪkən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #44,079 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “barbican” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for barbican is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɑːbɪkən/. Corpus data places it at rank #44,079 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for barbican, with forms such as "abrbican", "babrican", and "barbbican". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French barbacane, of uncertain origin: compare Arabic بَرْبَخ (barbaḵ, “aqueduct, sewer”), and Persian بابخانه (bâb-xâne, “gatehouse”). The correct English form is barbican, spelled B-A-R-B-I-C-A-N.
Definition
- 1A tower at the entrance to a castle or fortified town.
- 2A fortress at the end of a bridge.
- 3An opening in the wall of a fortress through which the guns are levelled; a narrow loophole through which arrows and other missiles may be shot.
- 4A temporary wooden tower built for defensive purposes.
Etymology
From Old French barbacane, of uncertain origin: compare Arabic بَرْبَخ (barbaḵ, “aqueduct, sewer”), and Persian بابخانه (bâb-xâne, “gatehouse”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abrbican,babrican,barbbican,barbcian,barbiacn,barbicann,barbiccan,barbicna,baribcan,barrbican,bbarbican,brabican
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of barbican - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
How do you spell "barbican"?
What does "barbican" mean?
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Using “barbican”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-R-B-I-C-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɑːbɪkən/ (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.