publican
/ˈpʌblɪk(ə)n/
"publican" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“publican” is an uncommon English word, ranked #52,572 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #52,572
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The landlord (manager or owner) of a public house (“a bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging; a pub”).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | publican |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpʌblɪk(ə)n/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #52,572 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “publican” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for publican is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpʌblɪk(ə)n/. Corpus data places it at rank #52,572 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for publican in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from public house (“(Britain) bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging, pub”) or public (“open to all members of a community”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns), apparently originally used humorously. The correct English form is publican, spelled P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N.
Definition
- 1The landlord (manager or owner) of a public house (“a bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging; a pub”).
- 2The manager or owner of a hotel.
Etymology
Probably from public house (“(Britain) bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging, pub”) or public (“open to all members of a community”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns), apparently originally used humorously.
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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Using “publican”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpʌblɪk(ə)n/ (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
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.