paramour
/ˈpæɹəmʊə/
"paramour" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“paramour” is an uncommon English word, ranked #62,396 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #62,396
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | paramour |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpæɹəmʊə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #62,396 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “paramour” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for paramour is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpæɹəmʊə/. Corpus data places it at rank #62,396 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for paramour in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adverb is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (“with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner”), from Anglo-Norman par amur (“in a friendly or willing manner”) and Old French par amur, par amour, para… The correct English form is paramour, spelled P-A-R-A-M-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner.
- 2A person (especially someone who is not one's spouse) with whom one has an illicit or secret affair; also (Scotland, US, law), one with whom a married person has an adulterous affair.
- 3A woman who is the object of a knight's love, and who he fights for.
- 4God as the object of a person's devotion or love.
Etymology
The adverb is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (“with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner”), from Anglo-Norman par amur (“in a friendly or willing manner”) and Old French par amur, par amour, paramours (“by or through love”) (modern French par amour), from par (“by; through; etc.”) (from Latin per (“by means of, through”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; etc.”)) + amor, amur (“love”, noun) (from Latin amōrem, the accusative singular of amor (“desire, lust; affection, love”), from amō (“to love”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grasp, seize; to take hold; to touch; etc.”)) + -or (suffix forming abstract nouns)). The noun is from Middle English paramour, paramoure, paramur, peramour (“wife; concubine; mistress; husband; male lover; darling, sweetheart; romantic love; sexual passion; (Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; divine or spiritual love”), from par amour, paramore (adverb) (see above), possibly from a misinterpretation of to love paramour(s) (“to love passionately”) to mean “to love a beloved person”. The verb is partly from both of the following: * From Middle English paramouren (“to love (someone)”), probably derived from the adverb (see above). The Middle English word is only attested in one (possibly 15th-century) source and does not appear to have been used again until the 17th century; compare William Shakespeare's use of out-paramour in King Lear (written c. 1603–1606): see the 1608 quotation. * Uses from the 17th century onwards are probably derived from the noun.
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.
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Using “paramour”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-R-A-M-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpæɹəmʊə/ (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
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.