landsman

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

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

The verdict

“landsman” is uncommon English (frequency #86,450 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,450
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who does not go to sea, who lacks the skills of a sailor or who is uncomfortable on ships or boats.

Corpus desk

Index EN-landsman · landsman · English

landsman · rank #86,450 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #86,450
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH lamin

Nearest frequency peer: lamin (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “landsman”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “landsman” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for landsman
PropertyValue
Headwordlandsman
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#86,450
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “landsman” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).landsmanfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “lamin” (#86,449), “lamellar” (#86,448), “Leanna” (#86,452). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “landsman” is #86,450. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

landsman is uncommon English at frequency #86,450 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how landsman appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. So, deprived of one leg, and the strange ship of course being altogether unsupplied with the kindly invention, Ahab now found himself abjectly reduced to a clumsy landsman again; hopelessly eyeing the uncertain changeful height he could hardly hope to attain.
  2. If the landsman should wish the gang-plank moved a foot farther forward, he would probably say: “James, or William, one of you push that plank forward, please”; but put the mate in his place, and he would roar out: “Here, now, start that gang-plank for'ard! Lively, now! What're you about!..."

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "landsman", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

lamellar#86,448Krakatoa#86,439Majumdar#86,484mamacita#86,488

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list