pervy

adj

"pervy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pervy” is uncommon English (frequency #61,701 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,701
frequency rank, English
46,516
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Behaving or looking like a sexual pervert.

Key facts for pervy
PropertyValue
Headwordpervy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters5
Frequency rank#61,701
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “pervy” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). pervy lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pervy is uncommon English at frequency #61,701 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Behaving or looking like a sexual pervert.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for pervy in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From perv + -y. The correct English form is pervy, spelled P-E-R-V-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Behaving or looking like a sexual pervert.

Etymology

From perv + -y.

Synonyms

Antonyms

normophilic

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 "pervy"?
"pervy" is spelled P-E-R-V-Y.
What does "pervy" mean?
As an adjective, "pervy" means: Behaving or looking like a sexual pervert.
What is the origin of the word "pervy"?
From perv + -y. 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.

Using “pervy”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-V-Y - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list