nine men's morris

noun

"nine-men-s-morris" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nine men's morris” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An ancient strategic board game for two players, each having nine pieces, and in which forming a row of three of one's own pieces earns the removal of one of the other player's pieces.

Key facts for nine men's morris
PropertyValue
Headwordnine men's morris
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “nine men's morris” sits in English frequency

nine men's morris falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

nine men's morris is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An ancient strategic board game for two players, each having nine pieces, and in which forming a row of three of one's own pieces earns the removal of one of the other player's pieces.".

nine men's morris has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Popularly claimed to ultimately be from Latin merellus (“gamepiece (incl. in draughts), token, etc.”); a possible connection has also been linked to French marelle (“hopscotch”). The correct English form is nine men's morris, spelled N-I-N-E- -M-E-N-'-S- -M-O-R-R-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    An ancient strategic board game for two players, each having nine pieces, and in which forming a row of three of one's own pieces earns the removal of one of the other player's pieces.

Etymology

Popularly claimed to ultimately be from Latin merellus (“gamepiece (incl. in draughts), token, etc.”); a possible connection has also been linked to French marelle (“hopscotch”).

This word in other languages

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 "nine men's morris"?
"nine men's morris" is spelled N-I-N-E- -M-E-N-'-S- -M-O-R-R-I-S.
What does "nine men's morris" mean?
As a noun, "nine men's morris" means: An ancient strategic board game for two players, each having nine pieces, and in which forming a row of three of one's own pieces earns the removal of one of the other player's pieces.
What is the origin of the word "nine men's morris"?
Popularly claimed to ultimately be from Latin merellus (“gamepiece (incl. in draughts), token, etc.”); a possible connection has also been linked to French marelle (“hopscotch”). 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 “nine men's morris”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is N-I-N-E- -M-E-N-'-S- -M-O-R-R-I-S - 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