old man's pepper

noun

"old-man-s-pepper" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Key facts for old man's pepper
PropertyValue
Headwordold man's pepper
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “old man's pepper” sits in English frequency

old man's pepper 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

old man's pepper is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for old man's pepper, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Compound of old + man's + pepper, presumably so-called for its pungent flavor (see quotations below). The correct English form is old man's pepper, spelled O-L-D- -M-A-N-'-S- -P-E-P-P-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Etymology

Compound of old + man's + pepper, presumably so-called for its pungent flavor (see quotations below).

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 "old man's pepper"?
"old man's pepper" is spelled O-L-D- -M-A-N-'-S- -P-E-P-P-E-R.
What does "old man's pepper" mean?
As a noun, "old man's pepper" means: Achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
What is the origin of the word "old man's pepper"?
Compound of old + man's + pepper, presumably so-called for its pungent flavor (see quotations below). 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 “old man's pepper”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is O-L-D- -M-A-N-'-S- -P-E-P-P-E-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