martial art
"martial-art" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“martial art” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several fighting styles which contain systematized methods of training for combat, both armed and unarmed; often practiced as a sport, e.g. boxing, karate, judo, silat, wrestling, or Muay Thai.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | martial art |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “martial art” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
martial art is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
martial art has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Japanese 武術 (bujutsu), which is itself borrowed from Chinese 武術 /武术 (wǔshù). However, the term had been already mentioned in Pope's Iliad (1715, 4.360), and in Sotheby's Iliad (1831, book 6). The correct English form is martial art, spelled M-A-R-T-I-A-L- -A-R-T.
Definition
- 1Any of several fighting styles which contain systematized methods of training for combat, both armed and unarmed; often practiced as a sport, e.g. boxing, karate, judo, silat, wrestling, or Muay Thai.
- 2Military skills, proficiency in military strategy, prowess in warfare.
Etymology
Calque of Japanese 武術 (bujutsu), which is itself borrowed from Chinese 武術 /武术 (wǔshù). However, the term had been already mentioned in Pope's Iliad (1715, 4.360), and in Sotheby's Iliad (1831, book 6).
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “martial art”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-R-T-I-A-L- -A-R-T - 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.