knuckleball
noun, verb
knuckleball is spelled K-N-U-C-K-L-E-B-A-L-L: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 109,062nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, knuckleball means “A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation, which travels over an unpredictable path to the plate due to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of knuckleball is knuckleballs.
How many letters and syllables are in knuckleball?
| Letters | 11: K-N-U-C-K-L-E-B-A-L-L |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 109,062nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is knuckleball?
Knuckleball appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 109,062nd 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).
Forms of knuckleball
- knuckleballs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- knuckleballing participle, present
- knuckleballed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does knuckleball mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rotation, which travels over an unpredictable path to the plate due to microturbulence in the air.
Even the pitcher doesn't know where his knuckleball is going.
- 2
A type of delivery where a fast bowler holds the ball on the knuckles of the index and middle fingers.
- 3
informalAn event that is hard to predict.
Our vendor keeps throwing us knuckleballs.
verb
- 1
To pitch knuckleballs.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Knuckleball in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense A pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with no rota:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | balle-papillon |
| Spanish | lanzamiento de nudillos |
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 knuckleball come from?
From knuckle + ball.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).