pariah
/pəˈɹaɪə/noun
pariah is spelled P-A-R-I-A-H: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pariah means “Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community, or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pariah is pariahs.
How many letters and syllables are in pariah?
| Letters | 6: P-A-R-I-A-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is pariah?
Pariah appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pariah?
- /pəˈɹaɪə/
Pariah has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-pariah.ogg, En-au-pariah.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pariah
- pariahs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pariah mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community, or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian society.
- 2
A similarly despised group of people or species of animal.
- 3
Ellipsis of pariah dog (“an Indian breed, any stray dog in Indian contexts”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pariah in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense member of the untouchable castes in Indian society:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pariah come from?
From Tamil பறையர் (paṟaiyar), from பறையன் (paṟaiyaṉ, “drummer”), from பறை (paṟai, “drum”) or from Malayalam പറയർ (paṟayaṟ), from പറയൻ (paṟayaṉ, “drummer”), from പറ (paṟa, “drum”). Parai in Tamil or Para in Malayalam refers to a type of large drum designed to announce the king’s notices to the public. The people who made a living using the parai were called paraiyar; in the caste-based society, they were in the lower strata, hence the derisive paraiah and pariah. Alternatively, derived from Sanskrit पर (para, “distant; outsider”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).