scaffold
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "scaffold", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "scaffold" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "scaffold" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
scaffold is aEnglishnoun. It means: A structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building. Pronounced /ˈskæf.əld/. Often confused with Stafford.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scaffold |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈskæf.əld/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #28,007 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scaffold is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈskæf.əld/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,007 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for scaffold, with forms such as "csaffold", "sacffold", and "scafflod". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Stafford", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English scaffold, scaffalde, from Anglo-Norman schaffaut, eschaffaut, eschafal, eschaiphal, escadafaut (“platform to see a tournament”) (Modern French échafaud), from Old French es- (indicating movement away or separation) (from Latin ex- (“out,… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is scaffold, spelled S-C-A-F-F-O-L-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on while working on a building.
- 2An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed.
- 3An elevated platform on which dead bodies are ritually disposed of, as by some Native American tribes.
- 4An accumulation of adherent, partly fused material forming a shelf or dome-shaped obstruction above the tuyeres in a blast furnace.
- 5A structure that provides support for some other material.
- 6A device in scaffolding, i.e. the provision a framework or support for achieving an intended outcome of internalizing learnings by way of collaboration and later gradual withdrawal of support.
Etymology
From Middle English scaffold, scaffalde, from Anglo-Norman schaffaut, eschaffaut, eschafal, eschaiphal, escadafaut (“platform to see a tournament”) (Modern French échafaud), from Old French es- (indicating movement away or separation) (from Latin ex- (“out, away”)) + chafaud, chafaut, chafault, caafau, caafaus, cadefaut (“scaffold for executing a criminal”), from Vulgar Latin *catafalcum (“viewing stage”), possibly from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “back; against”) + Latin -falicum (from fala, phala (“wooden gallery or tower; siege tower”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csaffold,sacffold,scafflod,scaffodl,scaffoldd,scaffolld,scafofld,scafold,sccaffold,scfafold,sscaffold
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for scaffold
Misspelling Variants of "scaffold"
Frequency rank: #28,007 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: