bridewell

noun

"bridewell" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bridewell” is an uncommon English word, ranked #99,056 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#99,056
frequency rank, English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small prison, or a police station that has cells.

Key facts for bridewell
PropertyValue
Headwordbridewell
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#99,056
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “bridewell” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). bridewell lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for bridewell is 9 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #99,056 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A small prison, or a police station that has cells.".

No misspelling variants are generated for bridewell in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction". The correct English form is bridewell, spelled B-R-I-D-E-W-E-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A small prison, or a police station that has cells.

Etymology

From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction".

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 "bridewell"?
"bridewell" is spelled B-R-I-D-E-W-E-L-L.
What does "bridewell" mean?
As a noun, "bridewell" means: A small prison, or a police station that has cells.
What is the origin of the word "bridewell"?
From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction". 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 “bridewell”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is B-R-I-D-E-W-E-L-L - 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