avian
/ˈeɪvi.ən/
"avian" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“avian” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,091 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #24,091
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Characteristic of or pertaining to birds, or to bird-like or flying creatures.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | avian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈeɪvi.ən/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #24,091 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “avian” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for avian is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈeɪvi.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,091 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Characteristic of or pertaining to birds, or to bird-like or flying creatures.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for avian, with forms such as "aivan", "avain", and "aviann". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "avid", "Avon", "avis", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin avis (“bird”) + -ian. The correct English form is avian, spelled A-V-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1Characteristic of or pertaining to birds, or to bird-like or flying creatures.
Etymology
From Latin avis (“bird”) + -ian.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aivan,avain,aviann,avina,avvian,vaian
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of avian - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “avian”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-V-I-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈeɪvi.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “avid” - see the side-by-side comparison. avian vs avid
- 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.