palaver
/pəˈlɑː.və(ɹ)/
"palaver" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“palaver” is an uncommon English word, ranked #77,065 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #77,065
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A village council meeting.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | palaver |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəˈlɑː.və(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #77,065 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “palaver” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for palaver is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈlɑː.və(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #77,065 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for palaver in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally nautical slang, from Portuguese palavra (“word”), from Late Latin parabola (“parable, speech”). The term's use (especially in Africa) mimics the evolution of the word moot. As such, for sense development, see moot. Doublet of parable, parole, and… The correct English form is palaver, spelled P-A-L-A-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1A village council meeting.
- 2Talk, especially unnecessary talk; chatter.
- 3Mentally draining activity, either physical or fuss.
- 4A meeting at which there is much talk; a debate; a moot.
- 5Disagreement.
- 6Talk intended to deceive.
Etymology
Originally nautical slang, from Portuguese palavra (“word”), from Late Latin parabola (“parable, speech”). The term's use (especially in Africa) mimics the evolution of the word moot. As such, for sense development, see moot. Doublet of parable, parole, and parabola.
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 “palaver”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-L-A-V-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈlɑː.və(ɹ)/ (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
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.