Pavlovian
/pævˈloʊvi.ən/
"pavlovian" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Pavlovian” is uncommon English (frequency #84,601 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,601
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or relating to the theories of the Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, especially those related to behavioral conditioning.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Pavlovian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pævˈloʊvi.ən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #84,601 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Pavlovian” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Pavlovian is uncommon English at frequency #84,601 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /pævˈloʊvi.ən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of or relating to the theories of the Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, especially those related to behavioral conditioning.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for Pavlovian in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Named after Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. The correct English form is Pavlovian, spelled P-A-V-L-O-V-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1Of or relating to the theories of the Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, especially those related to behavioral conditioning.
Etymology
Named after Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Pavlovian”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-V-L-O-V-I-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pævˈloʊvi.ən/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.