pawnshop

/ˈpɔːnʃɒp/

//ˈpɔːnʃɒp// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"pawnshop" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pawnshop” is uncommon English (frequency #75,277 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,277
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The business premises of a pawnbroker; where loans are made, with personal property as security

Corpus desk

Index EN-pawnshop · pawnshop · English

pawnshop · rank #75,277 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,277
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH peary

Nearest frequency peer: peary (+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 “pawnshop”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “pawnshop” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pawnshop
PropertyValue
Headwordpawnshop
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɔːnʃɒp/
Letters8
Frequency rank#75,277
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pawnshop” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).pawnshopfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “peary” (#75,279), “pembina” (#75,281), “peptic” (#75,282). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pawnshop” is #75,277. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pawnshop is uncommon English at frequency #75,277 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɔːnʃɒp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The business premises of a pawnbroker; where loans are made, with personal property as security".

No misspelling variants are generated for pawnshop in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From pawn + shop. The correct English form is pawnshop, spelled P-A-W-N-S-H-O-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    The business premises of a pawnbroker; where loans are made, with personal property as security

Etymology

From pawn + shop.

Synonyms

pawnbrokerypawnbrokerageLombard house

This word in other languages

prendería(Español)prêteur sur gages(Français)Pfandhaus(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "pawnshop"?
"pawnshop" is spelled P-A-W-N-S-H-O-P. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɔːnʃɒp/.
What does "pawnshop" mean?
As a noun, "pawnshop" means: The business premises of a pawnbroker; where loans are made, with personal property as security
How do you pronounce "pawnshop"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pawnshop" is /ˈpɔːnʃɒp/. 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 "pawnshop"?
From pawn + shop. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pawnshop", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

perineum#75,283Paganini#75,262pitiable#75,301Nylander#75,251

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list