petulance
/ˈpɛtjʊləns/
"petulance" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“petulance” is uncommon English (frequency #86,627 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,627
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rudeness, insolence.
Corpus desk
Index EN-petulance · petulance · English
petulance · rank #86,627 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,627
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Peto
Nearest frequency peer: Peto (-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 “petulance”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- pentagonal
pentagonal
13,380 corpus weight
- peremptory
peremptory
13,378 corpus weight
- Peto
Peto
13,375 corpus weight
- petulance
petulance
13,374 corpus weight
- pfaff
pfaff
13,373 corpus weight
- Pinay
Pinay
13,369 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “petulance” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | petulance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɛtjʊləns/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #86,627 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “petulance” in English
Rare enough to double-check
petulance is uncommon English at frequency #86,627 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɛtjʊləns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for petulance in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. 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 Middle French pétulance, and its source, Latin petulantia. The correct English form is petulance, spelled P-E-T-U-L-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1Rudeness, insolence.
- 2An insolent remark or act.
- 3Childish impatience or sulkiness; testiness.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how petulance appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[W]ise men knew, that that, which looked like pride in some, and like petulance in others, would, by experience in affairs, and conversation amongst men, both of which most of them wanted, be in time wrought off […]
I believe I was guilty of a petulance, which nothing but my uneasy situation can excuse; if that can.
Etymology
From Middle French pétulance, and its source, Latin petulantia.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "petulance", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).