dunnock
/ˈdʌnək/
"dunnock" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dunnock” 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 small European and Asian passerine bird, Prunella modularis; the hedge sparrow or hedge warbler.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dunnock · dunnock · English
dunnock · 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dunnock |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdʌnək/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dunnock” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dunnock is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈdʌnək/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small European and Asian passerine bird, Prunella modularis; the hedge sparrow or hedge warbler.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for dunnock in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English donek, dunok, from Old English *dunnuc, equivalent to dun (“brownish grey”) + -ock (diminutive suffix). Compare Old High German doniklīn (“hedge-sparrow; dunnock”). Compare ruddock. The correct English form is dunnock, spelled D-U-N-N-O-C-K.
Definition
- 1A small European and Asian passerine bird, Prunella modularis; the hedge sparrow or hedge warbler.
Etymology
From Middle English donek, dunok, from Old English *dunnuc, equivalent to dun (“brownish grey”) + -ock (diminutive suffix). Compare Old High German doniklīn (“hedge-sparrow; dunnock”). Compare ruddock.
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.