laughing stock
"laughing-stock" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“laughing stock” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An object of ridicule, someone who is publicly ridiculed; the butt of a joke.
Corpus desk
Index EN-laughing-stock · laughing stock · English
laughing stock · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | laughing stock |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “laughing stock” in English
Rare enough to double-check
laughing stock is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An object of ridicule, someone who is publicly ridiculed; the butt of a joke.".
laughing stock has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From laughing + stock (“source, supply; butt, target”). Compare also whipping-stock, jesting-stock. The correct English form is laughing stock, spelled L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G- -S-T-O-C-K.
Definition
- 1An object of ridicule, someone who is publicly ridiculed; the butt of a joke.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how laughing stock appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Pray you let us not be laughing-stocks to other men's humours.
When he talked, he talked nonsense, and made himself the laughing-stock of his hearers.
Etymology
From laughing + stock (“source, supply; butt, target”). Compare also whipping-stock, jesting-stock.
Synonyms
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.