tankard
/ˈtæŋkɚd/
"tankard" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tankard” is uncommon English (frequency #62,559 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,559
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large drinking vessel, sometimes of pewter, sometimes with a glass base, with one handle and often a hinged cover.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tankard |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtæŋkɚd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #62,559 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tankard” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tankard is uncommon English at frequency #62,559 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtæŋkɚd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A large drinking vessel, sometimes of pewter, sometimes with a glass base, with one handle and often a hinged cover.".
tankard has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tan(c)kard(e), denoting 'a large tub for carrying liquid', perhaps related to Dutch tanckaert, from Middle Dutch tanckaert, meaning the same thing, but of uncertain ultimate origin. The OED suggests an alteration of Medieval Latin *kanta… The correct English form is tankard, spelled T-A-N-K-A-R-D.
Definition
- 1A large drinking vessel, sometimes of pewter, sometimes with a glass base, with one handle and often a hinged cover.
Etymology
From Middle English tan(c)kard(e), denoting 'a large tub for carrying liquid', perhaps related to Dutch tanckaert, from Middle Dutch tanckaert, meaning the same thing, but of uncertain ultimate origin. The OED suggests an alteration of Medieval Latin *kantard, from Latin cantharus (“tankard”). Klein suggests French tant quart (“as much of a quarter”). Meaning "drinking vessel" is first recorded late 15th century.
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 “tankard”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-N-K-A-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtæŋkɚd/ (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.