petunia

Name: petunia, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/pəˈtʲuːni.ə/

//pəˈtʲuːni.ə// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“petunia” is uncommon English (frequency #54,395 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,395
frequency rank, English: 46,516
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of the flowering plants of genus Petunia, of which most garden varieties are hybrids.

Key facts for petunia
Property	Value
Headword	petunia
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/pəˈtʲuːni.ə/
Letters	7
Frequency rank	#54,395
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “petunia” 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). petunia lands here:

#54,395

#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

petunia is uncommon English at frequency #54,395 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /pəˈtʲuːni.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for petunia, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Tupian *pe Proto-Tupi-Guarani *tɨm Proto-Tupi-Guarani *pe-tɨm Old Tupi petymabor. French pétun Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -iader. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto… The correct English form is petunia, spelled P-E-T-U-N-I-A.

Definition

1
Any of the flowering plants of genus Petunia, of which most garden varieties are hybrids.
2
A dark purple colour, like that of some petunia flowers.
3
A homosexual.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Tupian *pe Proto-Tupi-Guarani *tɨm Proto-Tupi-Guarani *pe-tɨm Old Tupi petymabor. French pétun Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -iader. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ία (-ía)der. taxonomic name -ia taxonomic name Petunialbor. English petunia Learned borrowing from taxonomic name Petunia, from (now obsolete) French pétun (“tobacco”), from Old Tupi petyma (“tobacco”).

This word in other languages

petunia(Español)Petunie(Deutsch)petúnia(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 "petunia"?

"petunia" is spelled P-E-T-U-N-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈtʲuːni.ə/.

What does "petunia" mean?

As a noun, "petunia" means: Any of the flowering plants of genus Petunia, of which most garden varieties are hybrids.

How do you pronounce "petunia"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "petunia" is /pəˈtʲuːni.ə/. 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 "petunia"?

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 “petunia”

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

The one correct English spelling is P-E-T-U-N-I-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as /pəˈtʲuːni.ə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
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.