Get started

“Plowman” or “Ploughman”

Plowman is predominantly used in American (US) English (en-US) while ploughman is predominantly used in British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

Get Sapling See examples
Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 7 prefer “plowman” and 1 prefer “ploughman”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country plowman ploughman Preference
United States 89 11 “plowman”
United Kingdom 54 46 “plowman”
India 62 38 “plowman”
Philippines 79 21 “plowman”
Canada 79 21 “plowman”
Australia 74 26 “plowman”
Liberia 0 0 Not enough data
Ireland 32 68 “ploughman”
New Zealand 66 34 “plowman”
Jamaica 0 0 Not enough data
Trinidad & Tobago 0 0 Not enough data
Guyana 0 0 Not enough data
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“plowman”

  • …poem The Visions of Piers Plowman (1362) was inspired by the…
  • The architect John Plowman designed it in a Norman…
  • Clifford Henry Fitzherbert Plowman
  • …with William Langland and Piers Plowman.
  • …of Tardun by David H. Plowman, published by Tardun Old Boys'…
  • John Plowman
  • In 1844 the architects John Plowman and H.J.
  • Lachie Plowman, (b.1994) AFL footballer
  • …appears to borrow from Piers Plowman.)
  • Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman will move from GT4 driving…

“ploughman”

  • …who was often an elder ploughman.
  • …Galway 1790-1914, John Cunningham, 2004.The Ploughman on the Pound Note, Eugene…
  • …(as John McNeillie) – Wigtown Ploughman
  • …into the soil, and the ploughman could regulate its depth.
  • …period is William Langland's Piers Ploughman, here retaining the alliteration:
  • …or The Complaint of the Ploughman – a Lollard satire later…
  • …meaning great follower, servant or ploughman, an augmentative form of ambactos…
  • …The Earth gave to his ploughman, L'Auto, journal of ideas and…
  • Pickled Ploughman, formerly the Plough Inn, a…
  • …first Azeri-language newspaper Akinchi ("The Ploughman") in 1875.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

Too much to remember?

Looking for a tool that handles this for you wherever you write?

Install Sapling Try the grammar checker