Pavlovian
/pævˈloʊvi.ən/
"pavlovian" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Pavlovian” is uncommon English (frequency #84,601 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,601
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or relating to the theories of the Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, especially those related to behavioral conditioning.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pavlovian · Pavlovian · English
Pavlovian · rank #84,601 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #84,601
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH pendulous
Nearest frequency peer: pendulous (+2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “Pavlovian”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Pangasinan
Pangasinan
15,407 corpus weight
- pathogenici…
pathogenicity
15,403 corpus weight
- Pavlovian
Pavlovian
15,400 corpus weight
- pendulous
pendulous
15,398 corpus weight
- pericardium
pericardium
15,396 corpus weight
- Petrovic
Petrovic
15,394 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Pavlovian” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “Pavlovian” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Pavlovian is uncommon English at frequency #84,601 among 4,417 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Pavlovian appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A mere glance at the plot descriptions of the show’s fourth season is enough to induce Pavlovian giggle fits and shivers of joy.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Pavlovian", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).