Persepolis

/pəˈsɛpəlɪs/

//pəˈsɛpəlɪs// name

"persepolis" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Persepolis” is uncommon English (frequency #68,531 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,531
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The ceremonial capital city of Achaemenid Persia; its ruins in the present day.

Corpus desk

Index EN-persepolis · Persepolis · English

Persepolis · rank #68,531 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,531
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH perioperative

Nearest frequency peer: perioperative (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “Persepolis”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “Persepolis” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Persepolis
PropertyValue
HeadwordPersepolis
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/pəˈsɛpəlɪs/
Letters10
Frequency rank#68,531
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Persepolis” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Persepolisfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “perioperative” (#68,530), “Pelly” (#68,529), “pipette” (#68,533). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “Persepolis” is #68,531. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Persepolis is uncommon English at frequency #68,531 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /pəˈsɛpəlɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The ceremonial capital city of Achaemenid Persia; its ruins in the present day.".

Persepolis has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Persepolis, from Ancient Greek Περσέπολις (Persépolis), from Πέρσης (Pérsēs, “Persian”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 (Pārsa, “Persis, Persia, a Persian, Persepolis”) although ancient Greek writers relate a folk etymology tha… The correct English form is Persepolis, spelled P-E-R-S-E-P-O-L-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The ceremonial capital city of Achaemenid Persia; its ruins in the present day.

Etymology

From Latin Persepolis, from Ancient Greek Περσέπολις (Persépolis), from Πέρσης (Pérsēs, “Persian”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 (Pārsa, “Persis, Persia, a Persian, Persepolis”) although ancient Greek writers relate a folk etymology that derived the city, country, and people's name from Ancient Greek πέρθειν (pérthein, “to sack, to kill”).

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "Persepolis"?
"Persepolis" is spelled P-E-R-S-E-P-O-L-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈsɛpəlɪs/.
What does "Persepolis" mean?
As a proper noun, "Persepolis" means: The ceremonial capital city of Achaemenid Persia; its ruins in the present day.
How do you pronounce "Persepolis"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Persepolis" is /pəˈsɛpəlɪs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Persepolis"?
From Latin Persepolis, from Ancient Greek Περσέπολις (Persépolis), from Πέρσης (Pérsēs, “Persian”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 (Pārsa, “Persis, Persia, a Persian, Persepolis”) although ancient Greek writers relate a folk ety... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Persepolis", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list