jacktar
"jacktar" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jacktar” 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 sailor; especially, one in the Royal Navy.
Corpus desk
Index EN-jacktar · jacktar · English
jacktar · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 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 | jacktar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “jacktar” in English
Rare enough to double-check
jacktar is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A sailor; especially, one in the Royal Navy.".
Zero misspellings are on record for jacktar in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From jack (“common man or sailor”) + tar (“tarpaulin”), used for a common sailor dating back to the 1600s. The correct English form is jacktar, spelled J-A-C-K-T-A-R.
Definition
- 1A sailor; especially, one in the Royal Navy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how jacktar appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
O! the next that steps up is a jolly Jack tar, / He sailed with Lord [Nelson]^([sic]), during last war: / He’s right on the sea, Old England to view: / He’s come a pace-egging with so jolly a crew.
Wreaths of blue smoke curled gracefully from above the pipes of our loungers, who, gradually growing tired of chaffing each other, or of vainly wooing the drowsy god, fell into the ever-pleasant frontier habit of spinning yarns, an art in which the borderer rivals any gallant Jack Tar who ever trod a forecastle.
Etymology
From jack (“common man or sailor”) + tar (“tarpaulin”), used for a common sailor dating back to the 1600s.
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.