dog-fox

noun

"dog-fox" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A male fox.

Corpus desk

Index EN-dog-fox · dog-fox · English

dog-fox · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 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.

Key facts for dog-fox
PropertyValue
Headworddog-fox
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “dog-fox” in English

dog-foxranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dog-fox is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

dog-fox doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dogge fox. By surface analysis, dog + fox. The correct English form is dog-fox, spelled D-O-G---F-O-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    A male fox.
  2. 2
    The arctic fox, Vulpes lagopus, and especially the blue fox subspecies.
  3. 3
    Any species of the genus Vulpes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dog-fox appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Till sung his midnight hymn the owl, / Answer'd the dog-fox with his howl, / Then waked the King—at his request, / Lord Ronald stretch'd himself to rest.
  2. Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox / Gone to ground

Etymology

From Middle English dogge fox. By surface analysis, dog + fox.

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 "dog-fox"?
"dog-fox" is spelled D-O-G---F-O-X.
What does "dog-fox" mean?
As a noun, "dog-fox" means: A male fox.
What is the origin of the word "dog-fox"?
From Middle English dogge fox. By surface analysis, dog + fox. 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list