persimmon

/pɜːˈsɪmən/

//pɜːˈsɪmən// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"persimmon" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“persimmon” is uncommon English (frequency #50,716 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,716
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The orange fruit of any of various species of trees in the genus Diospyros, especially Diospyros kaki (the kaki or Japanese persimmon) or Diospyros virginiana (the wild American persimmon), which i...

Corpus desk

Index EN-persimmon · persimmon · English

persimmon · rank #50,716 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #50,716
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH pestle

Nearest frequency peer: pestle (+2 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 “persimmon”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for persimmon
PropertyValue
Headwordpersimmon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pɜːˈsɪmən/
Letters9
Frequency rank#50,716
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “persimmon” 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).persimmonfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “pestle” (#50,718), “Pamplona” (#50,713), “pais” (#50,712). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “persimmon” is #50,716. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

persimmon is uncommon English at frequency #50,716 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /pɜːˈsɪmən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for persimmon in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Powhatan pichamins, pushemins, pasimenan (“dried fruit”), from the same Proto-Algonquian root *-imin (“fruit, berry”) as Unami ximin. The correct English form is persimmon, spelled P-E-R-S-I-M-M-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The orange fruit of any of various species of trees in the genus Diospyros, especially Diospyros kaki (the kaki or Japanese persimmon) or Diospyros virginiana (the wild American persimmon), which is sweet when ripe and astringent when immature.
  2. 2
    The tree this fruit grows on, generally one of two species of ebony: Diospyros kaki (Asian) or Diospyros virginiana (North American).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how persimmon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I warned them not to eat the persimmons until they were soft to the touch.

Etymology

From Powhatan pichamins, pushemins, pasimenan (“dried fruit”), from the same Proto-Algonquian root *-imin (“fruit, berry”) as Unami ximin.

This word in other languages

caqui(Español)kaki(Français)Kaki(Deutsch)caqui(Português)

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 "persimmon"?
"persimmon" is spelled P-E-R-S-I-M-M-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /pɜːˈsɪmən/.
What does "persimmon" mean?
As a noun, "persimmon" means: The orange fruit of any of various species of trees in the genus Diospyros, especially Diospyros kaki (the kaki or Japanese persimmon) or Diospyros virginiana (the wild American persimmon), which i...
How do you pronounce "persimmon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "persimmon" is /pɜːˈsɪmən/. 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 "persimmon"?
From Powhatan pichamins, pushemins, pasimenan (“dried fruit”), from the same Proto-Algonquian root *-imin (“fruit, berry”) as Unami ximin. 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 "persimmon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

polygonal#50,729privateer#50,739procreate#50,740reconvene#50,764

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list