chain mail
"chain-mail" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chain mail” 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 September 3, 2026) - A flexible defensive armor, made of a mesh of interlinked metal rings.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chain-mail · chain mail · English
chain mail · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" 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 | chain mail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chain mail” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chain mail is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A flexible defensive armor, made of a mesh of interlinked metal rings.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for chain mail, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: chain + mail; attested since the 1780s. The correct English form is chain mail, spelled C-H-A-I-N- -M-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1A flexible defensive armor, made of a mesh of interlinked metal rings.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chain mail appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Chain mail is formed by a number of iron rings, each ring having four others inserted into it, the whole exhibiting a kind of net work, with circular meshes, every ring separately rivetted; this kind of mail answers to that worn on the ancient breast plates, whence they were denominated loricæ hammatæ, from the rings being hooked together.
A few broken broadswords, a helmet and a couple of chain mails preserved in museums are all the relics of those far-off times.
Etymology
chain + mail; attested since the 1780s.
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.