lapwing
/ˈlæpwɪŋ/
"lapwing" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lapwing” 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) - Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lapwing · lapwing · English
lapwing · 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 "L" 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 | lapwing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlæpwɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “lapwing” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lapwing is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlæpwɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for lapwing in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lapwynge, lapwynke, lappewincke, lapwynche, lhapwynche, from Old English hlēapewince (“lapwing”), from Old English hlēapan (“to leap”) + wincian (“to wink, make a sign”), due to its manner of flight. Cognate with West Frisian ljip (“lapw… The correct English form is lapwing, spelled L-A-P-W-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.
- 2Any of several medium-sized wading birds belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae, within family Charadriidae.
- 3A silly man.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lapwing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Plovers and lapwings are a large, virtually worldwide family that differs from sandpipers in, among other things, having a shorter, thicker, pigeonlike bill and more robust proportions.
The resident tropical plovers have much less pointed wings, and most of the lapwings have fairly rounded wing-tips, a wing shape apparently more adapted to aerial manoeuvrability than to long-distance migration.
Etymology
From Middle English lapwynge, lapwynke, lappewincke, lapwynche, lhapwynche, from Old English hlēapewince (“lapwing”), from Old English hlēapan (“to leap”) + wincian (“to wink, make a sign”), due to its manner of flight. Cognate with West Frisian ljip (“lapwing”). The modern form is influenced by folk etymology to resemble English wing.
This word in other languages
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.