hobnail
"hobnail" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hobnail” 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 short nail with a thick head, typically used in boot soles.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hobnail · hobnail · English
hobnail · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" 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 | hobnail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hobnail” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hobnail is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
hobnail doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hob + nail. The oldest attestation is in William Shakespeare, but he likely did not coin the term. The correct English form is hobnail, spelled H-O-B-N-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1A short nail with a thick head, typically used in boot soles.
- 2A yokel; a rustic.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hobnail appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Next, the word Politician is not us'd to his maw, and therupon he plays the most notorious hobbihors, jesting and frisking in the luxury of his non-sense with such poor fetches to cog a laughter from us, that no antic hobnaile at a Morris, but is more hansomly facetious.
There lay Tom; hobnail Tom! a bacon-munching, reckless, beer-swilling animal! and yet a man …
Etymology
From hob + nail. The oldest attestation is in William Shakespeare, but he likely did not coin the term.
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.