trammel
/ˈtræməl/
"trammel" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“trammel” 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) - Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, such as a net or shackle.
Corpus desk
Index EN-trammel · trammel · English
trammel · 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 "T" 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 | trammel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtræməl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “trammel” in English
Rare enough to double-check
trammel is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtræməl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for trammel in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English trameyle, from Old French tramail (“net for catching fish”), from Late Latin tremaculum, from tri- (“tri-”) + macula (“spot, speck; mesh, cell”). Cognate with Italian tramaglio (“trammel”), Spanish trasmallo (“drift net”). The correct English form is trammel, spelled T-R-A-M-M-E-L.
Definition
- 1Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, such as a net or shackle.
- 2A fishing net that has large mesh at the edges and smaller mesh in the middle
- 3A kind of net for catching birds, fishes, or other prey.
- 4A vertical bar with several notches or chain of rings suspended over a fire, used to hang cooking pots by a hook which has an easily adjustable height.
- 5Braids or plaits of hair.
- 6A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making it amble.
- 7An instrument for drawing ellipses, one part of which consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles to each other, the other being a beam carrying two pins (which slide in those grooves), and also the describing pencil.
- 8A beam compass.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how trammel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[They] disclaim the trammels of any sordid contract.
The men who came here were able to throw off all the trammels of tradition and established doctrine.
Etymology
From Middle English trameyle, from Old French tramail (“net for catching fish”), from Late Latin tremaculum, from tri- (“tri-”) + macula (“spot, speck; mesh, cell”). Cognate with Italian tramaglio (“trammel”), Spanish trasmallo (“drift net”).
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.