Morlock

noun

"morlock" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Morlock” is uncommon English (frequency #97,328 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#97,328
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A member of a troglodyte cannibalistic race described in H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine (1895).

Corpus desk

Index EN-morlock · Morlock · English

Morlock · rank #97,328 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #97,328
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Moraga

Nearest frequency peer: Moraga (-1 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 “Morlock”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Morlock
PropertyValue
HeadwordMorlock
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#97,328
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Morlock” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Morlockfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Moraga” (#97,327), “Mrazek” (#97,329), “Moneypenny” (#97,326). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “Morlock” is #97,328. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Morlock is uncommon English at frequency #97,328 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Morlock has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in 1895; possibly influenced by Morlach or Moloch. The correct English form is Morlock, spelled M-O-R-L-O-C-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    A member of a troglodyte cannibalistic race described in H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine (1895).
  2. 2
    A brutish troglodyte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Thus civilian morale became a key issue in war preparations, which were undertaken in a spirit so fretfully suspicious that centralised mass shelters were not constructed for fear of encouraging a deep shelter mentality that would turn London's population into a race of modern Morlocks.
  2. We need a modern White version of that. They go into niggerhoods that border Human areas and patrol. Protect the Human encampments from the invading Morlocks. Do it legally, and call the police to actually grab the criminal n*gs, but be out there in force watching & filming these things.

Etymology

Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in 1895; possibly influenced by Morlach or Moloch.

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 "Morlock"?
"Morlock" is spelled M-O-R-L-O-C-K.
What does "Morlock" mean?
As a noun, "Morlock" means: A member of a troglodyte cannibalistic race described in H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine (1895).
What is the origin of the word "Morlock"?
Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in 1895; possibly influenced by Morlach or Moloch. 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 "Morlock", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list