man child
"man-child" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“man child” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An adult male who is childish or immature.
Corpus desk
Index EN-man-child · man child · English
man child · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" 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 | man child |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “man child” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
man child is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
man child doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English manchylde, man-chylde (“a male child”), equivalent to man + child. The correct English form is man child, spelled M-A-N- -C-H-I-L-D.
Definition
- 1An adult male who is childish or immature.
- 2A young male human; a boy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how man child appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In the end, Brown said he just couldn't stand another day of trying to run a team with two sets of rules — one for 11 players and the other for the man-child superstar.
Bring forth Men-Children onely: / For thy vndaunted Mettle ſhould compoſe / Nothing but Males.
Etymology
From Middle English manchylde, man-chylde (“a male child”), equivalent to man + child.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.