pangolin
/ˈpæŋɡəlɪn/
"pangolin" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pangolin” is uncommon English (frequency #62,395 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,395
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several long-tailed, scale-covered mammals of the family Manidae within the order Pholidota of tropical Africa and Asia.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pangolin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpæŋɡəlɪn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #62,395 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pangolin” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
pangolin is uncommon English at frequency #62,395 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpæŋɡəlɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of several long-tailed, scale-covered mammals of the family Manidae within the order Pholidota of tropical Africa and Asia.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for pangolin in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Malay pengguling, from peng- (“denominative prefix”) + guling (“to roll”). The correct English form is pangolin, spelled P-A-N-G-O-L-I-N.
Definition
- 1Any of several long-tailed, scale-covered mammals of the family Manidae within the order Pholidota of tropical Africa and Asia.
Etymology
Borrowed from Malay pengguling, from peng- (“denominative prefix”) + guling (“to roll”).
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 “pangolin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-N-G-O-L-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpæŋɡəlɪn/ (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.