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 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,412
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.

Corpus desk

Index EN-martingale · martingale · English

martingale · rank #73,412 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,412
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Maroney

Nearest frequency peer: Maroney (-2 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 “martingale”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for martingale
PropertyValue
Headwordmartingale
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#73,412
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “martingale” in English

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

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Maroney” (#73,410), “Markowitz” (#73,409), “Marengo” (#73,408). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “martingale” is #73,412. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

martingale is uncommon English at frequency #73,412 among 4,057 “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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. If a gambler plays a fair game repeatedly, his payoff over time is a martingale.

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "martingale", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Longbottom#73,388militarist#73,436logarithms#73,384judicature#73,328

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list