# Percival

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈpɜː(ɹ)sɪvəl/ · frequency rank #32,532

## Definitions
1. A male given name from the Celtic languages.
2. A surname originating as a patronymic.
3. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fremont County, Iowa, United States.
4. A former hamlet in Saskatchewan, Canada.

## Etymology
From Old French Perceval, name of a knight in a twelfth century Arthurian romance by the French poet Chrétien de Troyes. Shaped like Old French percier (“pierce”) + val (“valley”), but probably representing some Gaulish or Old Welsh name, possibly related to Welsh Peredur, from ber (“spear, lance”) (from Middle Welsh ber, from Proto-Brythonic *ber, from Proto-Celtic *beru (“spit”)) + dur (“hard metal, steel”) (see Latin durus).
Cognate with German Parzival and Parsifal.

## Common misspellings (12)
`eprcival`, `pecrival`, `perccival`, `perciavl`, `percivall`, `percivla`, `percivval`, `percvial`, `pericval`, `perrcival`, `ppercival`, `precival`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/percival