cuttlebone
cut·tle·bone/ˈkʌt(ə)lˌboʊn/noun
cuttlebone is spelled C-U-T-T-L-E-B-O-N-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables (cut·tle·bone). It appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cuttlebone means “Synonym of cuttlefish bone (“the calcareous, oval-shaped internal shell of a cuttlefish (order Sepiida), originally used in powdered form as an…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cuttlebone is cuttlebones.
How many letters and syllables are in cuttlebone?
| Letters | 10: C-U-T-T-L-E-B-O-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: cut·tle·bone |
| In writing | about once in every 87 million words; the 297,763rd 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 cuttlebone?
Cuttlebone appears about once in every 87 million words in written English, the 297,763rd 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 cuttlebone?
- UK /ˈkʌtl̩bəʊn/
- US /ˈkʌt(ə)lˌboʊn/
- US [-ɾ(ə)l-]
Cuttlebone has 3 syllables, split cut·tle·bone in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cuttlebone.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cuttlebone
- cuttlebones plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cuttlebone mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Synonym of cuttlefish bone (“the calcareous, oval-shaped internal shell of a cuttlefish (order Sepiida), originally used in powdered form as an antacid and for absorbing moisture or polishing objects, and now chiefly as a dietary supplement for cage birds”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does cuttlebone come from?
From Middle English cotilbone [and other forms], from cotil, cutil, codel (“cuttlefish; cuttlebone”) (from Old English cudele (“cuttlefish”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, to curve; an arch; a vault”)) + bon (“bone”) (from Old English bān (“bone”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike; to cut, hew”)). The English word is analysable as cuttle (“cuttlefish”) + bone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).