paddy wagon
"paddy-wagon" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“paddy wagon” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A police van for transporting prisoners.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | paddy wagon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “paddy wagon” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
paddy wagon is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A police van for transporting prisoners.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for paddy wagon, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Supposedly from Paddy, a derogatory name for an Irishman. The correct English form is paddy wagon, spelled P-A-D-D-Y- -W-A-G-O-N.
Definition
- 1A police van for transporting prisoners.
Etymology
Supposedly from Paddy, a derogatory name for an Irishman.
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
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Using “paddy wagon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-D-D-Y- -W-A-G-O-N - 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.