rag-and-bone man
"rag-and-bone-man" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rag-and-bone man” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A man who deals in scrap metal and recycled junk (originally including rags and bones, in earlier centuries).
Corpus desk
Index EN-rag-and-bone-man · rag-and-bone man · English
rag-and-bone man · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" 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 | rag-and-bone man |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rag-and-bone man” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rag-and-bone man is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A man who deals in scrap metal and recycled junk (originally including rags and bones, in earlier centuries).".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for rag-and-bone man, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is rag-and-bone man, spelled R-A-G---A-N-D---B-O-N-E- -M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A man who deals in scrap metal and recycled junk (originally including rags and bones, in earlier centuries).
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how rag-and-bone man appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Horses and carts are never seen now and the rag and bone man is no more. In the fifties there were still those who made a living from old clothes, especially those made from natural fibres and suitable for felting.
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.