like a bull in a china shop
"like-a-bull-in-a-china-shop" is a 21-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“like a bull in a china shop” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 27
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | like a bull in a china shop |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 27 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “like a bull in a china shop” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
like a bull in a china shop is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.".
like a bull in a china shop has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is like a bull in a china shop, spelled L-I-K-E- -A- -B-U-L-L- -I-N- -A- -C-H-I-N-A- -S-H-O-P.
Definition
- 1Clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “like a bull in a china shop”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-I-K-E- -A- -B-U-L-L- -I-N- -A- -C-H-I-N-A- -S-H-O-P - 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.