pericarp
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "pericarp", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "pericarp" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "pericarp" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
pericarp is aEnglishnoun. It means: The outermost layer, or skin, of a ripe fruit or ovary. Pronounced /ˈpɛɹɪˌkɑːp/.
Compare similar words
See how pericarp compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pericarp |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɛɹɪˌkɑːp/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pericarp is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɛɹɪˌkɑːp/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for pericarp in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French péricarpe, from New Latin pericarpium, from Ancient Greek περικάρπιον (perikárpion, “pod, husk, shell”), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). By surface analysis, peri- + -carp. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is pericarp, spelled P-E-R-I-C-A-R-P, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The outermost layer, or skin, of a ripe fruit or ovary.
- 2The outer layer of anything.
Etymology
From French péricarpe, from New Latin pericarpium, from Ancient Greek περικάρπιον (perikárpion, “pod, husk, shell”), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). By surface analysis, peri- + -carp.
This word in other languages
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pericarp"?
What does "pericarp" mean?
How do you pronounce "pericarp"?
What is the origin of the word "pericarp"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: