footman
noun
footman is spelled F-O-O-T-M-A-N: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,954th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, footman means “A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of footman is footmen.
How many letters and syllables are in footman?
| Letters | 7: F-O-O-T-M-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 52,954th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is footman?
Footman appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,954th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce footman?
Footman has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Usmaan_(Middle_river_exports)-footman.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of footman
- footmen plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does footman mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA soldier who marches and fights on foot; a foot soldier.
- 2
A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc.
- 3
A servant who runs in front of his master's carriage.
- 4
A metallic stand with four feet, for keeping anything warm before a fire.
- 5
A moth of the family Arctiidae (or subfamily Arctiinae); so called from its livery-like colors.
- 6
Especially, a common footman (Manulea lurideola).
- 7
A bar that connects the treadle of a spinning wheel to the wheel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Footman in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | laquais, valet de pied |
| German | Lakai , Bärenspinner |
| Spanish | lacayo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does footman come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).