paddy wagon

noun

"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 September 3, 2026) - A police van for transporting prisoners.

Corpus desk

Index EN-paddy-wagon · paddy wagon · English

paddy wagon · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" 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 paddy wagon
PropertyValue
Headwordpaddy wagon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “paddy wagon” in English

paddy wagonfalls 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

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

  1. 1
    A 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

How do you spell "paddy wagon"?
"paddy wagon" is spelled P-A-D-D-Y- -W-A-G-O-N.
What does "paddy wagon" mean?
As a noun, "paddy wagon" means: A police van for transporting prisoners.
What is the origin of the word "paddy wagon"?
Supposedly from Paddy, a derogatory name for an Irishman. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list