pernicious
/pəˈnɪʃəs/
"pernicious" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pernicious” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #34,222 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #34,222
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Causing much harm in a subtle way.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pernicious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pəˈnɪʃəs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #34,222 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pernicious” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pernicious is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈnɪʃəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #34,222 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for pernicious, with forms such as "eprnicious", "penricious", and "perincious". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus (“destructive”), from perniciēs (“destruction”), from per (“through”) + nex (“slaughter, death”). The correct English form is pernicious, spelled P-E-R-N-I-C-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Causing much harm in a subtle way.
- 2Causing death or injury; deadly.
- 3Insidiously villainous: intending to cause harm, especially in a subtle way.
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus (“destructive”), from perniciēs (“destruction”), from per (“through”) + nex (“slaughter, death”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eprnicious,penricious,perincious,pernciious,perniccious,perniciosu,perniciouss,perniciuos,pernicoius,perniicous,pernnicious,perrnicious,ppernicious,prenicious
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pernicious - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
How do you spell "pernicious"?
What does "pernicious" mean?
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Using “pernicious”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-N-I-C-I-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈnɪʃəs/ (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.