skulduggery
/skʌlˈdʌɡəɹi/
"skulduggery" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“skulduggery” is uncommon English (frequency #96,486 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,486
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A devious device or trick.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | skulduggery |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /skʌlˈdʌɡəɹi/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #96,486 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “skulduggery” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
skulduggery is uncommon English at frequency #96,486 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /skʌlˈdʌɡəɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for skulduggery in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: An alteration of Scots sculduddery, sculdudrie (“adultery, unchaste behaviour; obscenity, lewdness”), of long-uncertain origin (probably a euphemism). Relation to skull is speculative at best and likely folk etymology. The American spelling skullduggery is … The correct English form is skulduggery, spelled S-K-U-L-D-U-G-G-E-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A devious device or trick.
- 2Dishonest, underhanded, or unscrupulous activities or behaviour.
Etymology
An alteration of Scots sculduddery, sculdudrie (“adultery, unchaste behaviour; obscenity, lewdness”), of long-uncertain origin (probably a euphemism). Relation to skull is speculative at best and likely folk etymology. The American spelling skullduggery is in keeping with terms such as skillful and willful.
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 “skulduggery”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-K-U-L-D-U-G-G-E-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /skʌlˈdʌɡəɹi/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.