papillon
/ˈpæpɪjɒ̃/
"papillon" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“papillon” is uncommon English (frequency #51,902 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,902
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small dog of a certain toy spaniel breed having large upright ears with a shape that resembles butterfly wings.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | papillon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpæpɪjɒ̃/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #51,902 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “papillon” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
papillon is uncommon English at frequency #51,902 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpæpɪjɒ̃/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small dog of a certain toy spaniel breed having large upright ears with a shape that resembles butterfly wings.".
papillon doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French papillon (“butterfly”), from Latin pāpiliō (“butterfly, moth”). Doublet of papilio and pavilion. The correct English form is papillon, spelled P-A-P-I-L-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1A small dog of a certain toy spaniel breed having large upright ears with a shape that resembles butterfly wings.
Etymology
From French papillon (“butterfly”), from Latin pāpiliō (“butterfly, moth”). Doublet of papilio and pavilion.
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 “papillon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-P-I-L-L-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpæpɪjɒ̃/ (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.