pocketknife
"pocketknife" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pocketknife” 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 knife small enough for carrying safely and handily in a pocket; usually a folding knife (with blades or tools that the user can fold or retract into the handle).
Corpus desk
Index EN-pocketknife · pocketknife · English
pocketknife · 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pocketknife |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pocketknife” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pocketknife is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A knife small enough for carrying safely and handily in a pocket; usually a folding knife (with blades or tools that the user can fold or retract into the handle).".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for pocketknife, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pocket + knife. The correct English form is pocketknife, spelled P-O-C-K-E-T-K-N-I-F-E.
Definition
- 1A knife small enough for carrying safely and handily in a pocket; usually a folding knife (with blades or tools that the user can fold or retract into the handle).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pocketknife appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Jimmy had a pocketknife, and he wandered into the drawing-room with it one day, alone, and reduced ten thousand dollars' worth of furniture to an indeterminable value in rather less than three-quarters of an hour.
The Army, the Navy, the Maritime Commission, and Lend-Lease demanded more and more pocketknives — for demolition kits, medical kits, aviators’ kits, electricians’ kits; knives with tools, knives with marlin spikes. The pocketknife attained a new status — as indispensable equipment for all men in uniform.
Etymology
From pocket + knife.
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.