binnacle
/ˈbɪnəkəl/noun
binnacle is spelled B-I-N-N-A-C-L-E: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 133,440th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, binnacle means “The wooden housing for a ship's compass, with its corrector magnets and illuminating arrangements” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of binnacle is binnacles.
How many letters and syllables are in binnacle?
| Letters | 8: B-I-N-N-A-C-L-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 19 million words; the 133,440th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is binnacle?
Binnacle appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 133,440th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce binnacle?
- /ˈbɪnəkəl/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-binnacle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of binnacle
- binnacles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does binnacle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The wooden housing for a ship's compass, with its corrector magnets and illuminating arrangements.
- 2
The instrument cluster on a car or motorcycle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Binnacle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (nautical) the wooden housing for a ship's compass:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does binnacle come from?
Corruption of earlier bittacle, from French habitacle. Or from obsolete Spanish or Portuguese bitácula, both from Late Latin habitāculum (“little dwelling place”). Compare modern Spanish bitácora.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).