glass cannon
"glass-cannon" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“glass cannon” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A character or unit with strong offensive power but weak defensive capabilities.
Corpus desk
Index EN-glass-cannon · glass cannon · English
glass cannon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" 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 | glass cannon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “glass cannon” in English
Rare enough to double-check
glass cannon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A character or unit with strong offensive power but weak defensive capabilities.".
Zero misspellings are on record for glass cannon in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the fact that they are powerful (similar to a cannon) yet are easily breakable (similar to glass). The correct English form is glass cannon, spelled G-L-A-S-S- -C-A-N-N-O-N.
Definition
- 1A character or unit with strong offensive power but weak defensive capabilities.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how glass cannon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Deep elves die easier than most other races - glass cannons to an extreme extent.
A min-maxer might create a "glass cannon" character—one with lots of awesome offenses but next to no defense.
Etymology
From the fact that they are powerful (similar to a cannon) yet are easily breakable (similar to glass).
Antonyms
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.