palfrey
/ˈpɔːl.fɹi/
"palfrey" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“palfrey” is uncommon English (frequency #75,265 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,265
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | palfrey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɔːl.fɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #75,265 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “palfrey” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
palfrey is uncommon English at frequency #75,265 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɔːl.fɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse).".
No generated misspelling entries exist for palfrey in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English palfrey, from Anglo-Norman palefrei (“steed”), from Old French palefroi, palefreid, from Late Latin paraverēdus (“post horse, spare horse”), from Ancient Greek παρά (pará) + Latin verēdus (“post horse”), from Gaulish *werēdos (“horse”) (… The correct English form is palfrey, spelled P-A-L-F-R-E-Y.
Definition
- 1A small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse).
Etymology
From Middle English palfrey, from Anglo-Norman palefrei (“steed”), from Old French palefroi, palefreid, from Late Latin paraverēdus (“post horse, spare horse”), from Ancient Greek παρά (pará) + Latin verēdus (“post horse”), from Gaulish *werēdos (“horse”) (compare Welsh gorwydd (“horse”)), from Proto-Celtic *uɸoreidos (“horse”). Doublet of prad. Compare Dutch paard and German Pferd.
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
How do you spell "palfrey"?
What does "palfrey" mean?
How do you pronounce "palfrey"?
What is the origin of the word "palfrey"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “palfrey”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-L-F-R-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɔːl.fɹi/ (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.