plowman

/ˈplaʊ.mən/

//ˈplaʊ.mən// noun

"plowman" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“plowman” is uncommon English (frequency #73,533 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,533
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A man who plows land with a plow.

Corpus desk

Index EN-plowman · plowman · English

plowman · rank #73,533 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,533
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH Plattsburgh

Nearest frequency peer: Plattsburgh (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “plowman”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “plowman” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for plowman
PropertyValue
Headwordplowman
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈplaʊ.mən/
Letters7
Frequency rank#73,533
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “plowman” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).plowmanfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Plattsburgh” (#73,532), “plurals” (#73,536), “Piaf” (#73,529). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “plowman” is #73,533. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

plowman is uncommon English at frequency #73,533 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈplaʊ.mən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A man who plows land with a plow.".

plowman has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English plowman, ploghmon, plouȝman, equivalent to plow + man. Compare Middle Dutch ploechman. The correct English form is plowman, spelled P-L-O-W-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A man who plows land with a plow.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how plowman appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. A cereal breeder's farmhands must be good plowmen.

Etymology

From Middle English plowman, ploghmon, plouȝman, equivalent to plow + man. Compare Middle Dutch ploechman.

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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "plowman"?
"plowman" is spelled P-L-O-W-M-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈplaʊ.mən/.
What does "plowman" mean?
As a noun, "plowman" means: A man who plows land with a plow.
How do you pronounce "plowman"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "plowman" is /ˈplaʊ.mən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "plowman"?
From Middle English plowman, ploghmon, plouȝman, equivalent to plow + man. Compare Middle Dutch ploechman. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "plowman", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list