bean counter
"bean-counter" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bean counter” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who is excessively interested in controlling or reducing expenses, increasing profits, or in quantitative details in general.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bean-counter · bean counter · English
bean counter · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bean counter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bean counter” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bean counter is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A person who is excessively interested in controlling or reducing expenses, increasing profits, or in quantitative details in general.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bean counter, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from German Erbsenzähler (literally “pea counter”). The correct English form is bean counter, spelled B-E-A-N- -C-O-U-N-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1A person who is excessively interested in controlling or reducing expenses, increasing profits, or in quantitative details in general.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bean counter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
As any good bean counter will tell you, it costs money to treat people at a hospital.
And, in our case, the accounting firm of Halpern & Mantovani, CPA, in Encino, Calif., Chais' chief bean counter, pumped out the quarterly statements as if it were all rock solid.
Etymology
Probably from German Erbsenzähler (literally “pea counter”).
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.