pariah
/pəˈɹaɪə/
"pariah" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pariah” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #39,017 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #39,017
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community, or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian society.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pariah |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəˈɹaɪə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #39,017 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pariah” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pariah is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈɹaɪə/. Corpus data places it at rank #39,017 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pariah, with forms such as "apriah", "pairah", and "paraih". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "Paris", "parma", "parka", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 t… The correct English form is pariah, spelled P-A-R-I-A-H.
Definition
- 1Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community, or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian society.
- 2A similarly despised group of people or species of animal.
- 3Ellipsis of pariah dog (“an Indian breed, any stray dog in Indian contexts”).
Etymology
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”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apriah,pairah,paraih,pariahh,pariha,parriah,ppariah,praiah
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pariah - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “pariah”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-R-I-A-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈɹaɪə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Paris” - see the side-by-side comparison. pariah vs Paris
- 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.