jackanapes
/ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/
"jackanapes" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jackanapes” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet.
Corpus desk
Index EN-jackanapes · jackanapes · English
jackanapes · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "J" 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 | jackanapes |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “jackanapes” in English
Rare enough to double-check
jackanapes is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
jackanapes has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English iack napys, iac nape, iac napes (“derogatory nickname of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450)”), probably from Jacun or Jakin (“pet forms of the male name Jack”) + ape (“ape, mo… The correct English form is jackanapes, spelled J-A-C-K-A-N-A-P-E-S.
Definition
- 1(A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet.
- 2(A proper name for) a person thought to behave like an ape or monkey, for example, in being impudent, mischievous, vain, etc.; specifically (chiefly humorous), an impudent or mischievous child.
- 3A crucifix.
- 4A small pulley which keeps a rope in line when lifting ore, water, etc., from a mine.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how jackanapes appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
To iettynge, to iaggynge, and to full of iapes; / To mockynge, to mowynge, to lye a iackenapes: […]
He grynnes and he gapis, / As it were iack napis.
Etymology
From Middle English iack napys, iac nape, iac napes (“derogatory nickname of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450)”), probably from Jacun or Jakin (“pet forms of the male name Jack”) + ape (“ape, monkey”) + -s (possibly modelled after surnames such as Hobbes and Jakkes), referring to Suffolk’s heraldic badge which was an ape’s chain and clog (“weight such as a block of wood or log attached to an animal to hinder motion”) (see the image, right). It is uncertain whether the word was first coined as a nickname for Suffolk (the earliest known uses), or to refer to an ape or an ape-like person. If the word was originally a nickname, some early uses of etymology 1 sense 2.1 (“person thought to behave like an ape or monkey”) may allude to Suffolk who was widely regarded as an upstart, having risen from the merchant class. In later uses, the middle element of the word was often treated as the indefinite article a or an, that is, as if the word meant “Jack, an ape”.
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.