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party

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "party", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "party" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "party" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

party is aEnglishnoun. It means: A person or group of people constituting one side in a legal proceeding, such as in a legal action or a contract. Pronounced /ˈpɑː.ti/. It ranks #308 in English word frequency. Often confused with pay and pat.

Key facts for party
PropertyValue
Headwordparty
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɑː.ti/
Letters5
Frequency rank#308
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of party in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for party is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɑː.ti/. Corpus data places it at rank #308 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for party, with forms such as "aprty", "parrty", and "partty". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pay", "pat", "pry", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English party, partye, partie, from Anglo-Norman partie, from Old French partie (“side, part; portion, share; separation, division”, literally “that which is divided”), noun use of feminine of past participle of Old French partir (“to divide, se… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is party, spelled P-A-R-T-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person or group of people constituting one side in a legal proceeding, such as in a legal action or a contract.
  2. 2
    A person; an individual.
  3. 3
    A person; an individual.
  4. 4
    A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
  5. 5
    A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
  6. 6
    A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
  7. 7
    A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
  8. 8
    A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
  9. 9
    A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest, etc., or united in maintaining a cause, policy, or opinion in opposition to others; a faction.
  10. 10
    A detachment of troops selected for a particular service or duty.
  11. 11
    A group of people gathered together, especially temporarily, for a specific purpose such as travel or sport.
  12. 12
    A group of people gathered together, especially temporarily, for a specific purpose such as travel or sport.
  13. 13
    A group of people gathered together, especially temporarily, for a specific purpose such as travel or sport.
  14. 14
    A small group of birds or mammals.
  15. 15
    A part or portion.
  16. 16
    A prospective partner or an offer of marriage.
  17. 17
    A decision, resolution, agreement.

Etymology

From Middle English party, partye, partie, from Anglo-Norman partie, from Old French partie (“side, part; portion, share; separation, division”, literally “that which is divided”), noun use of feminine of past participle of Old French partir (“to divide, separate”), from Latin partire (“to share, part, distribute, divide”), from pars (“a part, piece, a share”); see also part. First attested in c. 1300. Doublet of partita. The sense of communist party of a communist state derives Russian партия (partija), short for Коммунистическая партия (Kommunističeskaja partija).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: aprty,parrty,partty,partyy,paryt,patry,pparty,praty

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for party

Misspelling Variants of "party"

aprty5parrty6partty6partyy6paryt5patry5pparty6praty5
Misspelling Variants of "party"

Frequency rank: #308 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "party"?
"party" is spelled P-A-R-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɑː.ti/.
What does "party" mean?
As a noun, "party" means: A person or group of people constituting one side in a legal proceeding, such as in a legal action or a contract.
What words are commonly confused with "party"?
"party" is commonly confused with "pay", "pat", "pry". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "party"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "party" is /ˈpɑː.ti/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "party"?
From Middle English party, partye, partie, from Anglo-Norman partie, from Old French partie (“side, part; portion, share; separation, division”, literally “that which is divided”), noun use of feminine of past participle of Old French partir (“to ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.