# papacy

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpeɪ.pə.si/ · frequency rank #28,320

## Definitions
1. The office of a pope.
2. The office of a pope.
3. The period of a particular pope's reign.
4. Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.

## Etymology
Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).

## Easily confused with
- **papal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papacy-vs-papal)
- **pappy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papacy-vs-pappy)
- **piracy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papacy-vs-piracy)
- **papaya** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papacy-vs-papaya)
- **papa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papa-vs-papacy)
- **palace** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/palace-vs-papacy)

## Common misspellings (9)
`appacy`, `paapcy`, `papaccy`, `papacyy`, `papayc`, `papcay`, `pappacy`, `ppaacy`, `ppapacy`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/papacy