Old Nick
"old-nick" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Old Nick” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a proper noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The Devil; Satan.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Old Nick |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Old Nick” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Old Nick is 8 letters long, classified as a proper noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The Devil; Satan.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Old Nick, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally 17th century. Apparently a special use of the forename Nick, perhaps in jocular or contrastive reference to Saint Nicholas. Alternatively, it may be derived from nicker, or some other derivative of Old English nicor (“water demon”). The correct English form is Old Nick, spelled O-L-D- -N-I-C-K.
Definition
- 1The Devil; Satan.
Etymology
Originally 17th century. Apparently a special use of the forename Nick, perhaps in jocular or contrastive reference to Saint Nicholas. Alternatively, it may be derived from nicker, or some other derivative of Old English nicor (“water demon”).
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
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Using “Old Nick”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-L-D- -N-I-C-K - 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.