landsman

noun

"landsman" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“landsman” is an uncommon English word, ranked #86,450 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#86,450
frequency rank, English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who does not go to sea, who lacks the skills of a sailor or who is uncomfortable on ships or boats.

Key facts for landsman
PropertyValue
Headwordlandsman
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#86,450
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “landsman” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). landsman lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for landsman is 8 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #86,450 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for landsman 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, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From land + -s- + man. In meanings 3 and 4, influenced by Yiddish לאַנדסמאַן (landsman). Compare also German Landsmann, Norwegian landsmann. Doublet of lantzman. The correct English form is landsman, spelled L-A-N-D-S-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who does not go to sea, who lacks the skills of a sailor or who is uncomfortable on ships or boats.
  2. 2
    A person who negotiates leases, contracts and other business deals between producers and landowners.
  3. 3
    A fellow Jew who comes from the same district or town, especially in Eastern Europe.
  4. 4
    Someone of a similar heritage or belief system.
  5. 5
    A military rank given to naval recruits.

Etymology

From land + -s- + man. In meanings 3 and 4, influenced by Yiddish לאַנדסמאַן (landsman). Compare also German Landsmann, Norwegian landsmann. Doublet of lantzman.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "landsman"?
"landsman" is spelled L-A-N-D-S-M-A-N.
What does "landsman" mean?
As a noun, "landsman" means: A person who does not go to sea, who lacks the skills of a sailor or who is uncomfortable on ships or boats.
What is the origin of the word "landsman"?
From land + -s- + man. In meanings 3 and 4, influenced by Yiddish לאַנדסמאַן (landsman). Compare also German Landsmann, Norwegian landsmann. Doublet of lantzman. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “landsman”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is L-A-N-D-S-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list