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I'm well aware that bulwark refers to something used as a fortification or a defense. However, I was wondering if the word bulwarker is an acceptable word to use in English. I know it's possible to be a bulwark ("He built a bulwark upon the hill."), and I know you can bulwark something from something else ("I will do whatever I can to bulwark the attack."). However, I'm unsure if it is possible to be a bulwarker. |
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There's no fundamental problem with bulwarker - it's just an "unlikely" word. The only instance I can find in Google Books is from a non-native speaker (or at least, an "Indian English" source). Thats not surprising when you consider how rarely bulwark is even used as a "true" verb. Most of the 25,000 instances of "bulwarked" are effectively "adjectival" (the shores were well bulwarked). And out of over 1M instances of bulwarks, only 151 are he bulwarks. If you want to refer to a bulwarker, you need to be able to say "he bulwarked" (but apparently only 119 writers have). In short, you can use/create the word - but expect to raise a few eyebrows! |
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