pui
[ˈpʰu̯i˦˨]
"pui" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pui” is uncommon English (frequency #71,025 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,025
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Interjection expressing strong disdain.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pui |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | [ˈpʰu̯i˦˨] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #71,025 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pui” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
pui is uncommon English at frequency #71,025 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed [ˈpʰu̯i˦˨]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Interjection expressing strong disdain.".
No misspelling variants are generated for pui in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hokkien 呸 (phùi, “to spit”), itself onomatopoeic. The correct English form is pui, spelled P-U-I.
Definition
- 1Interjection expressing strong disdain.
Etymology
From Hokkien 呸 (phùi, “to spit”), itself onomatopoeic.
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 “pui”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-U-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈpʰu̯i˦˨] (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.