yegg
/jɛɡ/
"yegg" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“yegg” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who breaks open safes; a burglar.
Corpus desk
Index EN-yegg · yegg · English
yegg · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "Y" 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 | yegg |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /jɛɡ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “yegg” in English
Rare enough to double-check
yegg is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /jɛɡ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A person who breaks open safes; a burglar.".
No misspelling variants are generated for yegg in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Origin unknown. The correct English form is yegg, spelled Y-E-G-G.
Definition
- 1A person who breaks open safes; a burglar.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how yegg appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1904, Edwin S. Porter (director), Capture of the ‘Yegg’ Bank Burglars
She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
Etymology
Origin unknown.
Synonyms
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.