# sailor

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈseɪ.lɚ/ · frequency rank #9,953

## Definitions
1. A person who sails; one whose occupation is sailing or navigating ships or other waterborne craft.
2. A person who sails; one whose occupation is sailing or navigating ships or other waterborne craft.
3. A person who sails; one whose occupation is sailing or navigating ships or other waterborne craft.
4. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genera Neptis, Pseudoneptis and Phaedyma, having white markings on a dark base and commonly flying by gliding.
5. A stiff straw hat with a flat, circular brim and a low, flat crown.
6. A brick, for example in a course of brickwork, that is laid vertically on its shortest end (smallest face), with its widest face facing the outside of the wall.

## Etymology
Alteration of earlier sailer, from Middle English sailer, sayler, saylere, equivalent to sail + -or. Cognate with German Segler (“sailor”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English marinel, marynell (“sailor”) borrowed from Old French marinel (“sailor”). See mariner.

## Easily confused with
- **silo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-silo)
- **salon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-salon)
- **sails** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-sails)
- **savor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-savor)
- **Saito** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-saito)
- **savior** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-savior)
- **suitor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-suitor)
- **Shiloh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-shiloh)
- **sailors** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailor-vs-sailors)
- **sail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sail-vs-sailor)
- **sailed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sailed-vs-sailor)
- **Saigon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/saigon-vs-sailor)

## Common misspellings (8)
`asilor`, `saillor`, `sailorr`, `sailro`, `saiolr`, `salior`, `sialor`, `ssailor`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sailor