nonpareil
/nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/
"nonpareil" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nonpareil” is uncommon English (frequency #86,574 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,574
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nonpareil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #86,574 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nonpareil” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
nonpareil is uncommon English at frequency #86,574 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for nonpareil, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English non-parail (“unparalleled, nonpareil”) [and other forms], from Middle French nonpareille, nonpareil (“unparalleled”) (obsolete), from non- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + pareil (“alike, like, same”). Pareil is derived from Old French pare… The correct English form is nonpareil, spelled N-O-N-P-A-R-E-I-L.
Definition
- 1Unequalled, unrivalled; unique.
Etymology
From Late Middle English non-parail (“unparalleled, nonpareil”) [and other forms], from Middle French nonpareille, nonpareil (“unparalleled”) (obsolete), from non- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + pareil (“alike, like, same”). Pareil is derived from Old French pareil, from Late Latin pāriculus (“equal; like; of a number: even”), from Latin pār (“equal; like; of a number: even; suitable”) + -culus (a variant of -ulus (suffix forming diminutives)). Doublet of umpire. Noun sense 4 (size of type standardized at 6-point) is usually taken to derive from the attractive type cut by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio De Gregori (fl. 1482–1503 and 1496–1527 respectively) for their 1498 edition of the divine offices in Venice; it was for a long time the smallest-sized type in use.
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); 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 “nonpareil”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-O-N-P-A-R-E-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /nɒnpəˈɹeɪ(l)/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.