saltire
/ˈsæl.taɪə/
"saltire" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“saltire” is an uncommon English word, ranked #60,441 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #60,441
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An ordinary (geometric design) in the shape of an X. It usually occupies the entire field in which it is placed.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | saltire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsæl.taɪə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #60,441 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “saltire” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for saltire is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsæl.taɪə/. Corpus data places it at rank #60,441 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
saltire doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sawtoure, from Old French sautoir (“stile, saltire”) (compare French sautoir (“saltire”)), from sauter (“to jump, to leap”) + -oir (subject forming nouns denoting physical objects from verbs), from Latin saltāre (“to dance, to jump”) + -… The correct English form is saltire, spelled S-A-L-T-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1An ordinary (geometric design) in the shape of an X. It usually occupies the entire field in which it is placed.
- 2The Saint Andrew's cross, the flag of Scotland.
- 3The Saint Patrick's Cross, the pre 1922 flag of Ireland.
Etymology
From Middle English sawtoure, from Old French sautoir (“stile, saltire”) (compare French sautoir (“saltire”)), from sauter (“to jump, to leap”) + -oir (subject forming nouns denoting physical objects from verbs), from Latin saltāre (“to dance, to jump”) + -orium, -oria.
Synonyms
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
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Using “saltire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-L-T-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsæl.taɪə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.