permaculture
"permaculture" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“permaculture” is uncommon English (frequency #56,971 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,971
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any system of sustainable agriculture that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | permaculture |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #56,971 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “permaculture” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
permaculture is uncommon English at frequency #56,971 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
permaculture has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Blend of permanent + agriculture, coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978. For a long time Bill Mollison claimed to have copyrighted the word; this was never the case, as copyright law is not applicable to single words. The correct English form is permaculture, spelled P-E-R-M-A-C-U-L-T-U-R-E.
Definition
- 1Any system of sustainable agriculture that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems.
- 2The design, installation and maintenance of indefinitely sustainable human communities set in balanced ecologies, both urban and rural.
Etymology
Blend of permanent + agriculture, coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978. For a long time Bill Mollison claimed to have copyrighted the word; this was never the case, as copyright law is not applicable to single words.
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); 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 “permaculture”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-M-A-C-U-L-T-U-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.