footman

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"footman" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“footman” is uncommon English (frequency #52,952 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,952
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.

Corpus desk

Index EN-footman · footman · English

footman · rank #52,952 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,952
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH fon

Nearest frequency peer: fon (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “footman”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “footman” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for footman
PropertyValue
Headwordfootman
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#52,952
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “footman” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).footmanfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “fon” (#52,951), “FSM” (#52,954), “Flemington” (#52,949). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “footman” is #52,952. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

footman is uncommon English at frequency #52,952 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for footman in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fotman, footman, foteman (“foot soldier, running footman”), from Old English *fōtman, *fōtmann (attested only as Old English fēþman, fēþemann (“footman”), equivalent to foot + man. The correct English form is footman, spelled F-O-O-T-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.
  2. 2
    A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc.
  3. 3
    A servant who runs in front of his master's carriage.
  4. 4
    A metallic stand with four feet, for keeping anything warm before a fire.
  5. 5
    A moth of the family Arctiidae (or subfamily Arctiinae); -- so called from its livery-like colors.
  6. 6
    A moth of the family Arctiidae (or subfamily Arctiinae); -- so called from its livery-like colors.
  7. 7
    A bar that connects the treadle of a spinning wheel to the wheel.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.
  2. And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

Etymology

From Middle English fotman, footman, foteman (“foot soldier, running footman”), from Old English *fōtman, *fōtmann (attested only as Old English fēþman, fēþemann (“footman”), equivalent to foot + man.

Synonyms

runnerrunning footmanfootman moth

This word in other languages

lacayo(Español)laquais(Français)Lakai(Deutsch)

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "footman"?
"footman" is spelled F-O-O-T-M-A-N.
What does "footman" mean?
As a noun, "footman" means: A soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.
What is the origin of the word "footman"?
From Middle English fotman, footman, foteman (“foot soldier, running footman”), from Old English *fōtman, *fōtmann (attested only as Old English fēþman, fēþemann (“footman”), equivalent to foot + man. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "footman", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Evander#52,935gracing#52,969gravest#52,970harping#52,983

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list