pawpaw
/ˈpɔːpɔː/
"pawpaw" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pawpaw” is uncommon English (frequency #88,696 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,696
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
Corpus desk
Index EN-pawpaw · pawpaw · English
pawpaw · rank #88,696 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #88,696
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH paver
Nearest frequency peer: paver (-1 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 “pawpaw”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- pastured
pastured
11,309 corpus weight
- Pataki
Pataki
11,308 corpus weight
- paver
paver
11,306 corpus weight
- pawpaw
pawpaw
11,305 corpus weight
- peanutbutter
peanutbutter
11,304 corpus weight
- pedicle
pedicle
11,303 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “pawpaw” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pawpaw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɔːpɔː/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #88,696 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pawpaw” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pawpaw is uncommon English at frequency #88,696 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɔːpɔː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pawpaw, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya (which is botanically unrelated) from Lokono papáia; compare also Kari'na kapaja. Doublet of papaya. Alternatively from Yuchi pahpah. The correct English form is pawpaw, spelled P-A-W-P-A-W.
Definition
- 1Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
- 2Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
- 3Any of several types of trees having edible fruit:
- 4The fruit of these trees.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pawpaw appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Throughout the years it's gone by a lot of names—frost banana, Indiana banana, fetid-bush, bandango, custard apple, prairie banana, poor man's banana—but most of the time it's just been called pawpaw. At first glance, both the fruit and the tree seem out of place in North America.
Xavier sliced the pawpaw in half, emptying the tiny black seeds over the veranda wall.
Etymology
Via Portuguese and Spanish papaya (which is botanically unrelated) from Lokono papáia; compare also Kari'na kapaja. Doublet of papaya. Alternatively from Yuchi pahpah.
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 "pawpaw", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).