falchion
/ˈfɔːl.(t)ʃən/
"falchion" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“falchion” is uncommon English (frequency #85,237 among 18,613 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #85,237
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A somewhat curved, single-edged medieval sword of European origin, with the cutting edge on its convex side, whose design is reminiscent of the Persian scimitar and the Chinese dao.
Corpus desk
Index EN-falchion · falchion · English
falchion · rank #85,237 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #85,237
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 18,613
- PHOTO-FINISH Fairey
Nearest frequency peer: Fairey (-1 rank slots)
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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “falchion”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- escutcheon
escutcheon
14,771 corpus weight
- ethnocentri…
ethnocentrism
14,770 corpus weight
- Fairey
Fairey
14,765 corpus weight
- falchion
falchion
14,764 corpus weight
- Fallows
Fallows
14,763 corpus weight
- Farquharson
Farquharson
14,761 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “falchion” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | falchion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɔːl.(t)ʃən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #85,237 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “falchion” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
falchion is uncommon English at frequency #85,237 among 18,613 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfɔːl.(t)ʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for falchion, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fauchoun, from Old French fauchon (cognate with Italian falcione), from Vulgar Latin *falciōnem, from Latin falx. The correct English form is falchion, spelled F-A-L-C-H-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1A somewhat curved, single-edged medieval sword of European origin, with the cutting edge on its convex side, whose design is reminiscent of the Persian scimitar and the Chinese dao.
- 2A billhook.
Etymology
From Middle English fauchoun, from Old French fauchon (cognate with Italian falcione), from Vulgar Latin *falciōnem, from Latin falx.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "falchion", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.