loafer

/ˈləʊfə/

//ˈləʊfə// noun

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

"loafer" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“loafer” is uncommon English (frequency #59,513 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,513
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An idle person.

Corpus desk

Index EN-loafer · loafer · English

loafer · rank #59,513 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,513
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH lithosphere

Nearest frequency peer: lithosphere (-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 “loafer”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for loafer
PropertyValue
Headwordloafer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈləʊfə/
Letters6
Frequency rank#59,513
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “loafer” 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).loaferfalls 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: “lithosphere” (#59,512), “linseed” (#59,511), “Lundberg” (#59,515). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “loafer” is #59,513. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

loafer is uncommon English at frequency #59,513 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈləʊfə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for loafer, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps short for landloafer, possibly a partial translation of German Landläufer (compare dialectal German loofen (“to run”), and English landlouper); or more likely connected to Middle English love, loove, loffinge, looffinge (“a remnant, the rest, that w… The correct English form is loafer, spelled L-O-A-F-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    An idle person.
  2. 2
    A shoe with no laces, resembling a moccasin.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The garden was bounded by a three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top, and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within.
  2. Along this unequal way, where loafers sat on whittled benches, lounged in doorways, leaned against porch props, Dan Gustin went pegging in his high-heeled boots like a mule in a Mexican chain hobble, holding a straight course for the hotel, past the doors of temptation.

Etymology

Perhaps short for landloafer, possibly a partial translation of German Landläufer (compare dialectal German loofen (“to run”), and English landlouper); or more likely connected to Middle English love, loove, loffinge, looffinge (“a remnant, the rest, that which remains or lingers”), from Old English lāf (“remainder, residue, what is left”) (more at lave), which is akin to Scots lave (“the rest, remainder”), Old English lǣfan (“to let remain, leave behind”) (more at leave).

Synonyms

bumbumpkinfootleridlerloutyobyobbopenny loafer

This word in other languages

haragán(Español)oisif(Français)Faulpelz(Deutsch)folgado(Português)

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 "loafer"?
"loafer" is spelled L-O-A-F-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈləʊfə/.
What does "loafer" mean?
As a noun, "loafer" means: An idle person.
How do you pronounce "loafer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "loafer" is /ˈləʊfə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "loafer"?
Perhaps short for landloafer, possibly a partial translation of German Landläufer (compare dialectal German loofen (“to run”), and English landlouper); or more likely connected to Middle English love, loove, loffinge, looffinge (“a remnant, the re... 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 "loafer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

leaden#59,502Manama#59,524Mariko#59,529labial#59,495

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list