pervious

/ˈpɜː.vɪ.əs/

//ˈpɜː.vɪ.əs// adj

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

"pervious" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pervious” is uncommon English (frequency #98,561 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#98,561
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Often followed by to: capable of being penetrated by another body or substance, such as air or water; admitting passage.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pervious · pervious · English

pervious · rank #98,561 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #98,561
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH perfective

Nearest frequency peer: perfective (-3 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 “pervious”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pervious
PropertyValue
Headwordpervious
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈpɜː.vɪ.əs/
Letters8
Frequency rank#98,561
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pervious” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).perviousfalls 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: “perfective” (#98,558), “pharmacodynamics” (#98,564), “phin” (#98,566). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pervious” is #98,561. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pervious is uncommon English at frequency #98,561 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈpɜː.vɪ.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pervious, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin pervius (“having a passage through; passable, penetrable, traversable”) + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Pervius is derived from per- (prefix denoting doing something all … The correct English form is pervious, spelled P-E-R-V-I-O-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Often followed by to: capable of being penetrated by another body or substance, such as air or water; admitting passage.
  2. 2
    Capable of being seen through; open to being examined; patent, unconcealed.
  3. 3
    Capable of being penetrated mentally; intelligible, understandable.
  4. 4
    Of a person, etc.: susceptible to being influenced by arguments, ideas, etc.; impressionable, tractable.
  5. 5
    Capable of penetrating or permeating.
  6. 6
    Of a body structure (especially the nostril of a bird): having a hole, perforate; also, wide open.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Near-synonym: porous
  2. a pervious soil

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pervius (“having a passage through; passable, penetrable, traversable”) + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Pervius is derived from per- (prefix denoting doing something all the way through or entirely) + via (“road, street; method, way; (figurative) course, route”) + -us (suffix forming adjectives)

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 "pervious"?
"pervious" is spelled P-E-R-V-I-O-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɜː.vɪ.əs/.
What does "pervious" mean?
As an adjective, "pervious" means: Often followed by to: capable of being penetrated by another body or substance, such as air or water; admitting passage.
How do you pronounce "pervious"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pervious" is /ˈpɜː.vɪ.əs/. 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 "pervious"?
Borrowed from Latin pervius (“having a passage through; passable, penetrable, traversable”) + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Pervius is derived from per- (prefix denoting doing some... 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 "pervious", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

orangery#98,525oblation#98,509reasoner#98,633reburial#98,635

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list