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pa

/pɑː/noun

pa is spelled P-A: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pa means “Father, papa” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pa is pas.

How many letters and syllables are in pa?

Letters2: P-A
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is pa?

Pa appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce pa?

  • /pɑː/

Pa has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pa.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with pa

Sounds like: par (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: pah, pau, paw.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of pa

  • pas plural
  • pah

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does pa mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialFather, papa.

  2. 2

    colloquialGrandpa, grandfather.

  3. 3

    A fortified Maori settlement, especially of pre-European times.

  4. 4

    Any Maori village or settlement; a kainga.

noun

as PA
  1. 1

    Initialism of public address.

  2. 2

    Initialism of production assistant.

  3. 3

    Initialism of personal assistant.

    Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA. Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA! Jen: It means "personal assistant". Moss: Thank you. Right, OK.

  4. 4

    Initialism of personal appearance (when a celebrity visits a public event).

  5. 5

    Initialism of power amplifier.

  6. 6

    Initialism of Prince Albert (“genital piercing”).

  7. 7

    Initialism of public accountant.

  8. 8

    Initialism of public act.

adjective

as PA
  1. 1

    Initialism of posteroanterior.

phrase

as PA
  1. 1

    Initialism of per annum.

    an interest rate of 3% PA

noun

as Pa
  1. 1

    informalFather, dad, papa.

    Hey, Pa, I'd like you to meet my friend.

  2. 2

    A short form of grandpa; grandfather.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Pa in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpapa (father), pépé (grandfather)
GermanVati (father), Opa (grandfather)
Portuguesepapai, papá (father), vovô, avozinho (grandfather)
Spanishpapá (father), abuelo, abuelito (grandfather)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does pa come from?

Clipping of papa.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after pa