swagman
/ˈswæɡmæn/
"swagman" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“swagman” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A man who travels around with a swag (“bundle of personal items”); specifically, an itinerant person, often seeking work in exchange for food and lodging.
Corpus desk
Index EN-swagman · swagman · English
swagman · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 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 | swagman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈswæɡmæn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “swagman” in English
Rare enough to double-check
swagman is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈswæɡmæn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
swagman has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From swag (“items stolen by a thief; unlawfully obtained goods; (Australia, New Zealand) bundle of personal items carried by a tramp, traveller, etc.”) + man. The correct English form is swagman, spelled S-W-A-G-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A man who travels around with a swag (“bundle of personal items”); specifically, an itinerant person, often seeking work in exchange for food and lodging.
- 2A person who sells or trades in trinkets or items of low value.
- 3A middleman who buys and sells stolen goods; a fence.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how swagman appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And then the swagman was such a companionable little fellow, and told such funny little yarns, and sung so many snatches of odd songs whilst he was at work that once or twice the old man relaxed the cross expression of his facial muscles, and allowed himself to be betrayed into a grim smile, and at last suffered himself to be drawn into conversation, alth…
Then the bells struck up for church, and the streets became crowded with well-dressed, warmly-clothed people, hurrying to their various places of worship, and casting glances of pitying curiosity at the two miserable, half-drowned swagmen as they passed.
Etymology
From swag (“items stolen by a thief; unlawfully obtained goods; (Australia, New Zealand) bundle of personal items carried by a tramp, traveller, etc.”) + man.
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.