motorcar

noun

"motorcar" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“motorcar” is an uncommon English word, ranked #73,457 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#73,457
frequency rank, English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An enclosed passenger motor vehicle: a car (automobile).

Key facts for motorcar
PropertyValue
Headwordmotorcar
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#73,457
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “motorcar” 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). motorcar lands here:

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

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for motorcar is 8 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #73,457 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for motorcar, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From motor + car. The correct English form is motorcar, spelled M-O-T-O-R-C-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    An enclosed passenger motor vehicle: a car (automobile).
  2. 2
    A self-propelled railway vehicle.

Etymology

From motor + car.

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 "motorcar"?
"motorcar" is spelled M-O-T-O-R-C-A-R.
What does "motorcar" mean?
As a noun, "motorcar" means: An enclosed passenger motor vehicle: a car (automobile).
What is the origin of the word "motorcar"?
From motor + car. 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 “motorcar”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is M-O-T-O-R-C-A-R - 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.

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

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