padawan
/ˈpædəˌwɒn/
"padawan" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“padawan” is uncommon English (frequency #62,391 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,391
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An apprentice or student Jedi.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | padawan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpædəˌwɒn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #62,391 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “padawan” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
padawan is uncommon English at frequency #62,391 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpædəˌwɒn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for padawan in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by American filmmaker George Lucas as early as 1973 (in the manuscript Journal of the Whills, where it was spelled padawaan), but not used in his Star Wars film franchise until Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace which premiered on 16 May 1999. The correct English form is padawan, spelled P-A-D-A-W-A-N.
Definition
- 1An apprentice or student Jedi.
- 2Any apprentice or student.
Etymology
Coined by American filmmaker George Lucas as early as 1973 (in the manuscript Journal of the Whills, where it was spelled padawaan), but not used in his Star Wars film franchise until Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace which premiered on 16 May 1999.
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 “padawan”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-D-A-W-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpædəˌwɒn/ (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.