pelican
/ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/noun
pelican is spelled P-E-L-I-C-A-N: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pelican means “Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pelican is pelicans.
How many letters and syllables are in pelican?
| Letters | 7: P-E-L-I-C-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,420th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pelican?
Pelican appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pelican?
- US /ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/
- US /ˈpɛl.ə.kən/
Pelican has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-pelican.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with pelican?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as pelican (/ɛlɪkən/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: panicle, capelin.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pelican
- pelicans plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pelican mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.
- 2
A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.
- 3
obsoleteA retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.
- 4
A set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.
- 5
CanadaslangA waterbomber.
- 6
slangAn ageing prostitute.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pelican in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pelican come from?
From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (“pelican”), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán), πέλεκυς (pélekus, “hatchet”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).