breastbone

noun

"breastbone" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The central narrow bone in the front of the chest, connecting the collarbone and the top ribs.

Key facts for breastbone
PropertyValue
Headwordbreastbone
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “breastbone” sits in English frequency

breastbone 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

breastbone is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The central narrow bone in the front of the chest, connecting the collarbone and the top ribs.".

No misspelling variants are generated for breastbone in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English brust-bon, brestbon, from Old English brēostbān (“breastbone”), equivalent to breast + bone. The correct English form is breastbone, spelled B-R-E-A-S-T-B-O-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The central narrow bone in the front of the chest, connecting the collarbone and the top ribs.

Etymology

From Middle English brust-bon, brestbon, from Old English brēostbān (“breastbone”), equivalent to breast + bone.

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 "breastbone"?
"breastbone" is spelled B-R-E-A-S-T-B-O-N-E.
What does "breastbone" mean?
As a noun, "breastbone" means: The central narrow bone in the front of the chest, connecting the collarbone and the top ribs.
What is the origin of the word "breastbone"?
From Middle English brust-bon, brestbon, from Old English brēostbān (“breastbone”), equivalent to breast + bone. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 “breastbone”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is B-R-E-A-S-T-B-O-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list