dodman
/ˈdɒdmən/
"dodman" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dodman” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A land-based snail.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dodman · dodman · English
dodman · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" 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 | dodman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɒdmən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dodman” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dodman is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdɒdmən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
dodman has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly dod (“(archaic) rounded, bare hilltop”) + -man, in the sense of a creature carrying a hill on its back. The word dod is from dod (“to clip, cut or lop off”), from Middle English dodden (“to shave, shear; to trim (a plant); to poll (cattle); to cut … The correct English form is dodman, spelled D-O-D-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A land-based snail.
- 2A snail's shell.
- 3Any shellfish which casts its shell, such as a lobster.
- 4A surveyor.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dodman appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Yt is as great pyte to se a woman wepe / As yt is to se a sely dodman crepe, / Or, as ye wold say, a sely goose go barefote.
In that a Snayl or Dodman, vvhich is not only not vvarm, but to our feeling, very cold, is fain to brood its as cold svveatty eggs, neſted upon a cold vvet earth, beſpievving them about vvith the fuzze of a cold clammy froth, in coldish [d]raughty vveather, and all making vvay to a kind and timely hatching of them: […] I dare undertake to light ſooner of…
Etymology
Possibly dod (“(archaic) rounded, bare hilltop”) + -man, in the sense of a creature carrying a hill on its back. The word dod is from dod (“to clip, cut or lop off”), from Middle English dodden (“to shave, shear; to trim (a plant); to poll (cattle); to cut off (someone's head)”), from dod, dodde (“measure of grain”), from Old English. The surveyor sense appears to be based on a misconception by English amateur archaeologist and author Alfred Watkins (1855–1935) in his book The Old Straight Track (1925).
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.