brawny
/bɹɔːni/
"brawny" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“brawny” is uncommon English (frequency #63,477 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,477
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Characterized by brawn; muscular, thewy; strong.
Corpus desk
Index EN-brawny · brawny · English
brawny · rank #63,477 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,477
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH Braunschweig
Nearest frequency peer: Braunschweig (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “brawny”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Boylan
Boylan
36,528 corpus weight
- braindead
braindead
36,527 corpus weight
- Branco
Branco
36,526 corpus weight
- Braunschweig
Braunschweig
36,525 corpus weight
- brawny
brawny
36,524 corpus weight
- breathy
breathy
36,522 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “brawny” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | brawny |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /bɹɔːni/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #63,477 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “brawny” in English
Rare enough to double-check
brawny is uncommon English at frequency #63,477 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /bɹɔːni/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for brawny, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English brawny; equivalent to brawn + -y. The correct English form is brawny, spelled B-R-A-W-N-Y.
Definition
- 1Characterized by brawn; muscular, thewy; strong.
- 2Calloused; hardened.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how brawny appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Rattler was a big, brawny fellow, and he stepped up in front of me, rolling up his sleeves.
As he stood on one side, for a minute or so, unbuttoning his waist-coat and breeches, her fat, brawny thighs hung down
Etymology
From Middle English brawny; equivalent to brawn + -y.
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); 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "brawny", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).