square bracket

noun

"square-bracket" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“square bracket” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Either of a pair of symbols, [ ], used for various purposes, e.g. to enclose text inserted or replaced by an editor, and to indicate various mathematical operations.

Key facts for square bracket
PropertyValue
Headwordsquare bracket
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “square bracket” sits in English frequency

square bracket falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

square bracket is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Either of a pair of symbols, [ ], used for various purposes, e.g. to enclose text inserted or replaced by an editor, and to indicate various mathematical operations.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for square bracket, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. 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.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is square bracket, spelled S-Q-U-A-R-E- -B-R-A-C-K-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Either of a pair of symbols, [ ], used for various purposes, e.g. to enclose text inserted or replaced by an editor, and to indicate various mathematical operations.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "square bracket"?
"square bracket" is spelled S-Q-U-A-R-E- -B-R-A-C-K-E-T.
What does "square bracket" mean?
As a noun, "square bracket" means: Either of a pair of symbols, [ ], used for various purposes, e.g. to enclose text inserted or replaced by an editor, and to indicate various mathematical operations.
What language does "square bracket" come from?
"square bracket" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “square bracket”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-Q-U-A-R-E- -B-R-A-C-K-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list