martingale

noun

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

"martingale" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“martingale” is uncommon English (frequency #73,412 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,412
frequency rank, English
36,575
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.

Key facts for martingale
PropertyValue
Headwordmartingale
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#73,412
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “martingale” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). martingale lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

martingale is uncommon English at frequency #73,412 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

martingale doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Alternatively from Spanish almártaga. The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingale" to mean… The correct English form is martingale, spelled M-A-R-T-I-N-G-A-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.
  2. 2
    A spar, or piece of rigging that strengthens the bowsprit.
  3. 3
    A stochastic process for which the conditional expectation of future values given the sequence of all prior values is equal to the current value.
  4. 4
    A gambling strategy in which one doubles the stake after each loss.
  5. 5
    A strap attached to the sword handle, preventing a sword being dropped if disarmed.

Etymology

From Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Alternatively from Spanish almártaga. The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingale" to mean absurdly, foolishly.https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/class/sem/html/home/notes/martingales/martingales.pdf

Synonyms

tie-down

This word in other languages

gamarra(Español)martingale(Français)

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 "martingale"?
"martingale" is spelled M-A-R-T-I-N-G-A-L-E.
What does "martingale" mean?
As a noun, "martingale" means: A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.
What is the origin of the word "martingale"?
From Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Alternatively from Spanish almártaga. The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingal... 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.

Using “martingale”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-A-R-T-I-N-G-A-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list