# Papua

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈpaːpwə/ · frequency rank #16,765

## Definitions
1. The southern part of what is now called Papua New Guinea, formerly administered as a separate territory to New Guinea.
2. The western part of New Guinea, currently part of Indonesia.
3. A province of Indonesia.

## Etymology
There are three theories:
* From Malay pepuah (“curly (of hair)”) for the natives of the island of New Guinea.
* From Ternate/Tidore papo ua (“not united; not coalesced”), referring to the territory that geographically was far away from the Sultanate of Tidore (and thus not united). The territory was called papo ua gam sio (“nine village/region that is not united”).
* From Biak sup i babwa (“the land below [the sunset]”), referring to the islands (Raja Ampat) west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera.

## Easily confused with
- **pau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-pau)
- **PPA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-ppa)
- **Paul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-paul)
- **pasta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-pasta)
- **Paula** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-paula)
- **pasha** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-pasha)
- **parma** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-parma)
- **Patna** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-patna)
- **parka** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-parka)
- **Parra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-parra)
- **poppa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papua-vs-poppa)
- **pap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pap-vs-papua)
- **papa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papa-vs-papua)
- **PAPI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papi-vs-papua)
- **pala** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pala-vs-papua)
- **Pape** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pape-vs-papua)
- **paper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/paper-vs-papua)
- **panda** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-papua)
- **papal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/papal-vs-papua)
- **palma** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/palma-vs-papua)

## Common misspellings (6)
`appua`, `papau`, `pappua`, `paupa`, `ppapua`, `ppaua`

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