Moreton Bay bug
"moreton-bay-bug" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Moreton Bay bug” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family; a common seafood item.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Moreton Bay bug |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Moreton Bay bug” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Moreton Bay bug is 15 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family; a common seafood item.".
Moreton Bay bug has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Named after Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia (by way of distinguishing it from the distantly-related Balmain bug (Ibacus peronii), but also found in many parts of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The correct English form is Moreton Bay bug, spelled M-O-R-E-T-O-N- -B-A-Y- -B-U-G.
Definition
- 1The species Thenus orientalis of the slipper lobster family; a common seafood item.
Etymology
Named after Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia (by way of distinguishing it from the distantly-related Balmain bug (Ibacus peronii), but also found in many parts of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.
Synonyms
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 “Moreton Bay bug”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-R-E-T-O-N- -B-A-Y- -B-U-G - 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.