trebuchet
/ˈtɹɛbəʃɛt/
"trebuchet" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“trebuchet” is uncommon English (frequency #87,921 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,921
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A medieval siege engine consisting of a large pivoting arm heavily weighted on one end.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | trebuchet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɹɛbəʃɛt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #87,921 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “trebuchet” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
trebuchet is uncommon English at frequency #87,921 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɹɛbəʃɛt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for trebuchet in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French trebuchet, trebuket et al. (modern trébuchet), from trebuchier (“to overthrow, topple”), from tres- + *buchier, from Old French buc (“trunk of the body”), from Old Frankish *būk (“belly, trunk, torso”), from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, ab… The correct English form is trebuchet, spelled T-R-E-B-U-C-H-E-T.
Definition
- 1A medieval siege engine consisting of a large pivoting arm heavily weighted on one end.
- 2A torture device for dunking suspected witches by means of a chair attached to the end of a long pole.
Etymology
From Old French trebuchet, trebuket et al. (modern trébuchet), from trebuchier (“to overthrow, topple”), from tres- + *buchier, from Old French buc (“trunk of the body”), from Old Frankish *būk (“belly, trunk, torso”), from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, abdomen, trunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Cognate with Old High German būh (“belly”), Old English būc (“belly, trunk”). More at bouk.
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 “trebuchet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-R-E-B-U-C-H-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɹɛbəʃɛt/ (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.