yellowhammer
/ˈjɛl.əʊˌhæm.ə(ɹ)/
"yellowhammer" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“yellowhammer” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A passerine bird, Emberiza citrinella, of western Eurasia, which is mainly yellow in colour.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yellowhammer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈjɛl.əʊˌhæm.ə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “yellowhammer” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
yellowhammer is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈjɛl.əʊˌhæm.ə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for yellowhammer, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: An alteration (influenced by hammer) of the earlier yelambre, yelamber, from Middle English *yelwambre, from yelwe (“yellow”) + *ambre (“yellowhammer”), from Old English amore, related to Old High German amaro (“yellowhammer”) (see modern German Ammer). The correct English form is yellowhammer, spelled Y-E-L-L-O-W-H-A-M-M-E-R.
Definition
- 1A passerine bird, Emberiza citrinella, of western Eurasia, which is mainly yellow in colour.
- 2The northern flicker, Colaptes auratus, a woodpecker with yellow underwings and undertail and often other yellowish underparts; one of its ways of feeding is to hammer on trees to find insects (adults and larvae) to eat.
- 3A native or resident of the American state of Alabama.
Etymology
An alteration (influenced by hammer) of the earlier yelambre, yelamber, from Middle English *yelwambre, from yelwe (“yellow”) + *ambre (“yellowhammer”), from Old English amore, related to Old High German amaro (“yellowhammer”) (see modern German Ammer).
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.
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Using “yellowhammer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Y-E-L-L-O-W-H-A-M-M-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈjɛl.əʊˌhæm.ə(ɹ)/ (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
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.