milquetoast
/ˈmɪlktəʊst/
"milquetoast" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“milquetoast” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.
Corpus desk
Index EN-milquetoast · milquetoast · English
milquetoast · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 | milquetoast |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmɪlktəʊst/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “milquetoast” in English
Rare enough to double-check
milquetoast is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈmɪlktəʊst/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for milquetoast, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Named after Caspar Milquetoast, a character from the comic strip The Timid Soul, created by American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952) and first published in 1924; the character was named after the American dish milk toast (“a food consisting of … The correct English form is milquetoast, spelled M-I-L-Q-U-E-T-O-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how milquetoast appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The truth is that we are cursed with a "milquetoast" Government operating under "milquetoast" policies. Fear has become a national policy.
If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy.
Etymology
Named after Caspar Milquetoast, a character from the comic strip The Timid Soul, created by American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952) and first published in 1924; the character was named after the American dish milk toast (“a food consisting of toasted bread in warm milk”).
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.