pass the buck
"pass-the-buck" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pass the buck” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To transfer responsibility or blame from oneself onto another; to absolve oneself of concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pass-the-buck · pass the buck · English
pass the buck · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-3 3 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pass the buck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pass the buck” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pass the buck is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To transfer responsibility or blame from oneself onto another; to absolve oneself of concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pass the buck, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: May have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibil… The correct English form is pass the buck, spelled P-A-S-S- -T-H-E- -B-U-C-K.
Definition
- 1To transfer responsibility or blame from oneself onto another; to absolve oneself of concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pass the buck appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
McLean was quoted in the Austin American Statesman as saying that although he had expected the guidelines to be ruled illegal, an attorney general's opinion […] was required in order to clarify the law. But critics say Bernstein and McLean simply passed the buck to the attorney general in order to placate the small group of fundamentalist Christians who h…
He closes the foreword by acknowledging that his proposals would have far-reaching impacts on railway staff, communities and industry - and passes the buck onto government to ensure that these consequences are managed appropriately.
Etymology
May have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buckhorn" or "buck", as the marker came to be called, to the next player.
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.