redcap
noun
redcap is spelled R-E-D-C-A-P: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, redcap means “A member of the Royal Military Police a unit in the British army” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of redcap is redcaps.
How many letters and syllables are in redcap?
| Letters | 6: R-E-D-C-A-P |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 124,184th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is redcap?
Redcap appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 124,184th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of redcap
- redcaps plural
- red cap
- red-cap
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does redcap mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
UKA member of the Royal Military Police a unit in the British army.
- 2
USA porter in a US railway station.
- 3
UKarchaicA European goldfinch, Eurasian goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis).
- 4
UKA type of evil goblin or imp.
- 5
A breed of poultry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does redcap come from?
From red + cap. In sense of "porter", 1890s US; compare contemporary Japanese 赤帽 (akabō), Chinese 小紅帽 /小红帽 (Xiǎo Hóng Mào). On Labor Day, 1890, John Williams, an African-American railway porter, tied a red ribbon to his black uniform cap to stand out from the crowd at Grand Central Terminal. The strategy was so successful that it was soon adopted by others in the profession, leading to the synecdochic use of redcap as a term for all railway porters.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).