pax
/pæks/
"pax" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pax” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,655 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,655
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A painted, stamped or carved tablet with a representation of Christ or the Virgin Mary, which was kissed by the priest during the Mass ("kiss of peace") and then passed to other officiating clergy ...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pax |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pæks/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,655 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pax” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pax is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pæks/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,655 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for pax in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PM", "PC", "PP", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pax and Latin pax (“peace”). Doublet of peace. See peace. As school slang, originally used at Winchester College, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom. The correct English form is pax, spelled P-A-X.
Definition
- 1A painted, stamped or carved tablet with a representation of Christ or the Virgin Mary, which was kissed by the priest during the Mass ("kiss of peace") and then passed to other officiating clergy and the congregation to be kissed. See also osculatory.
- 2Friendship; truce.
- 3The kiss of peace.
- 4A crucifix, a tablet with the image of Christ on the cross upon it, or a reliquary.
- 5Any of several notable periods of peace in human history, particularly owing to unquestionable hegemony on the model of the Pax Romana.
Etymology
From Middle English pax and Latin pax (“peace”). Doublet of peace. See peace. As school slang, originally used at Winchester College, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom.
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 “pax”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pæks/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “PM” - see the side-by-side comparison. pax vs PM
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.