night-cap

noun

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

The verdict

“night-cap” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of nightcap.

Corpus desk

Index EN-night-cap · night-cap · English

night-cap · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" 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.

Key facts for night-cap
PropertyValue
Headwordnight-cap
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “night-cap” in English

night-capranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

night-cap is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of nightcap.".

night-cap has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is night-cap, spelled N-I-G-H-T---C-A-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative form of nightcap.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. You skie-ſtaring Cocks combes you: you fat braines, out upon you; you are good for nothing but to ſweat night-caps, and make rug-gownes deare: […]
  2. 1769, Samuel Johnson, cited in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, Volume 1, p. 311, You remember the gentleman in “The Spectator,” who had a commission of lunacy taken out against him for his extreme singularity, such as never wearing a wig, but a night-cap. Now, Sir, abstractedly, the night-cap was best; but, relatively, th…

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

How do you spell "night-cap"?
"night-cap" is spelled N-I-G-H-T---C-A-P.
What does "night-cap" mean?
As a noun, "night-cap" means: Alternative form of nightcap.
What language does "night-cap" come from?
"night-cap" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list