poinsettia

/ˌpɔɪnˈsɛ.tɪə/

//ˌpɔɪnˈsɛ.tɪə// noun

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

"poinsettia" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“poinsettia” is uncommon English (frequency #82,674 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,674
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A plant, Euphorbia pulcherrima, with rather small and insignificant flowers surrounded by large bright red leaves; native to Mexico and Central America and widely cultivated as a garden plant;; wid...

Corpus desk

Index EN-poinsettia · poinsettia · English

poinsettia · rank #82,674 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,674
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH plage

Nearest frequency peer: plage (-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 “poinsettia”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for poinsettia
PropertyValue
Headwordpoinsettia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌpɔɪnˈsɛ.tɪə/
Letters10
Frequency rank#82,674
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “poinsettia” 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).poinsettiafalls 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: “plage” (#82,672), “poling” (#82,676), “polyhedral” (#82,677). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “poinsettia” is #82,674. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

poinsettia is uncommon English at frequency #82,674 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌpɔɪnˈsɛ.tɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A plant, Euphorbia pulcherrima, with rather small and insignificant flowers surrounded by large bright red leaves; native to Mexico and Central America and widely cultivated as a garden plant;; wid...".

No generated misspelling entries exist for poinsettia in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: After the obsolete genus name Poinsettia, named after Joel Roberts Poinsett (19th-century US minister to Mexico); equivalent to Poinsett + -ia. The correct English form is poinsettia, spelled P-O-I-N-S-E-T-T-I-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A plant, Euphorbia pulcherrima, with rather small and insignificant flowers surrounded by large bright red leaves; native to Mexico and Central America and widely cultivated as a garden plant;; widely used in Christmas floral displays.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Masses of scarlet Poinsettias glowed bravely against the dark green background formed by broad-leafed plantains, whose great tattered leaves rustled with every gust of wind that reached them.
  2. “So red,” she said of the poinsettias behind Florencia, which Jacquie didn’t even like because of how even the real ones look fake.

Etymology

After the obsolete genus name Poinsettia, named after Joel Roberts Poinsett (19th-century US minister to Mexico); equivalent to Poinsett + -ia.

Synonyms

Christmas starMexican flame leaf

This word in other languages

flor de Pascua(Español)Weihnachtsstern(Deutsch)

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 "poinsettia"?
"poinsettia" is spelled P-O-I-N-S-E-T-T-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌpɔɪnˈsɛ.tɪə/.
What does "poinsettia" mean?
As a noun, "poinsettia" means: A plant, Euphorbia pulcherrima, with rather small and insignificant flowers surrounded by large bright red leaves; native to Mexico and Central America and widely cultivated as a garden plant;; wid...
How do you pronounce "poinsettia"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "poinsettia" is /ˌpɔɪnˈsɛ.tɪə/. 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 "poinsettia"?
After the obsolete genus name Poinsettia, named after Joel Roberts Poinsett (19th-century US minister to Mexico); equivalent to Poinsett + -ia. 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 "poinsettia", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

polyhedral#82,677proteasome#82,690Perryville#82,656pentathlon#82,652

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list