skull and crossbones
/ˌskʌl n̩ ˈkɹɒsbəʊnz/
"skull-and-crossbones" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“skull and crossbones” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A depiction of a human skull and two crossed femurs (thighbones), a symbol of death traditionally used on the Jolly Roger pirate flag, but now used on chemical containers and other hazardous items ...
Corpus desk
Index EN-skull-and-crossbones · skull and crossbones · English
skull and crossbones · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | skull and crossbones |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌskʌl n̩ ˈkɹɒsbəʊnz/ |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “skull and crossbones” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
skull and crossbones is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌskʌl n̩ ˈkɹɒsbəʊnz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A depiction of a human skull and two crossed femurs (thighbones), a symbol of death traditionally used on the Jolly Roger pirate flag, but now used on chemical containers and other hazardous items ...".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for skull and crossbones, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is skull and crossbones, spelled S-K-U-L-L- -A-N-D- -C-R-O-S-S-B-O-N-E-S.
Definition
- 1A depiction of a human skull and two crossed femurs (thighbones), a symbol of death traditionally used on the Jolly Roger pirate flag, but now used on chemical containers and other hazardous items as an indicator of warning of toxicity or other life-threatening dangers or risks.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.