pellucid
/pɪˈl(j)uːsɪd/
"pellucid" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pellucid” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Allowing the passage of light; translucent or transparent.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pellucid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pɪˈl(j)uːsɪd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pellucid” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pellucid is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɪˈl(j)uːsɪd/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pellucid, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin pellūcidus, perlucidus (“transparent, pellucid; very bright; very understandable”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘through; throughout; completely, thoroughly’) + lūcidus (“clear; full of light, bright, shining; (… The correct English form is pellucid, spelled P-E-L-L-U-C-I-D.
Definition
- 1Allowing the passage of light; translucent or transparent.
- 2Easily understood; clear.
- 3Of music or some other sound: not discordant or harsh; clear and pure-sounding.
- 4Of a person, their mind, etc.: able to think and understand clearly; not confused; clear, sharp.
- 5Easily recognized or seen through; apparent, obvious.
Etymology
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin pellūcidus, perlucidus (“transparent, pellucid; very bright; very understandable”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘through; throughout; completely, thoroughly’) + lūcidus (“clear; full of light, bright, shining; (figuratively) easily understood, clear, lucid”) (from lūceō (“to shine; to become visible, show through; (figuratively) to be apparent, conspicuous, or evident”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)). The noun is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Late Latin pellucidum (“transparent substance”) * Middle French pellucide (modern French pellucide (“pellucid”))
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “pellucid”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-L-L-U-C-I-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɪˈl(j)uːsɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.