purveyor

/pə(ː)ˈveɪə/

//pə(ː)ˈveɪə// noun

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

"purveyor" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“purveyor” is uncommon English (frequency #50,172 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,172
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - One who purveys (“furnishes, provides; gets, procures”); a supplier; specifically, one in the business of supplying food or other necessary material goods; a provisioner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-purveyor · purveyor · English

purveyor · rank #50,172 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #50,172
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH quinta

Nearest frequency peer: quinta (+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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “purveyor”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “purveyor” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026
Key facts for purveyor
PropertyValue
Headwordpurveyor
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pə(ː)ˈveɪə/
Letters8
Frequency rank#50,172
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “purveyor” 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). purveyor lands here:

#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

purveyor is uncommon English at frequency #50,172 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /pə(ː)ˈveɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for purveyor, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English purveiour (“one who procures or supplies necessities, provider; city, military, religious, or household employee in charge of provisions, steward; one in charge, overseer; one who goes ahead to prepare the way, forerunner; one who arrang… The correct English form is purveyor, spelled P-U-R-V-E-Y-O-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    One who purveys (“furnishes, provides; gets, procures”); a supplier; specifically, one in the business of supplying food or other necessary material goods; a provisioner.
  2. 2
    One who purveys (“furnishes, provides; gets, procures”); a supplier; specifically, one in the business of supplying food or other necessary material goods; a provisioner.
  3. 3
    A person or group that promotes or spreads an idea, a viewpoint, etc.
  4. 4
    One who arranges or prepares something; an arranger, an orchestrator, a preparer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The merchants are the purveyors of fine selections.
  2. I love the Sea; She is my fellovv-Creature; / My carefull Purveyor; She provides me ſtore; / She vvals me round; She makes my diet greater; / She vvafts my treaſure from a forreigne ſhore; […]

Etymology

From Middle English purveiour (“one who procures or supplies necessities, provider; city, military, religious, or household employee in charge of provisions, steward; one in charge, overseer; one who goes ahead to prepare the way, forerunner; one who arranges accommodations for a traveller; (figurative) one who gathers greedily”), from Anglo-Norman purveour, Middle French pourveur, pourvoyeur, and (chiefly Northern) Old French purveour (“one who procures or supplies necessities or things in general; one who arranges or prepares something”) (modern French pourvoyeur), from porveoir, purveer, purveir (“to equip, furnish, provide, purvey; to foresee; to look at; to obtain, procure”) (modern French pourvoir) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns). Porveoir is derived from Latin prōvidēre, the present active infinitive of prōvideō (“to care for, look after; to foresee; to provide, see to”), from prō- (prefix meaning ‘before; forward’) + videō (“to see; to look out for, care for, provide, see to”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)). By surface analysis, purvey + -or (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people or things which do the actions denoted by the stems). Doublet of proveditor and provedore.

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "purveyor"?
"purveyor" is spelled P-U-R-V-E-Y-O-R. The IPA pronunciation is /pə(ː)ˈveɪə/.
What does "purveyor" mean?
As a noun, "purveyor" means: One who purveys (“furnishes, provides; gets, procures”); a supplier; specifically, one in the business of supplying food or other necessary material goods; a provisioner.
How do you pronounce "purveyor"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "purveyor" is /pə(ː)ˈveɪə/. 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 "purveyor"?
From Middle English purveiour (“one who procures or supplies necessities, provider; city, military, religious, or household employee in charge of provisions, steward; one in charge, overseer; one who goes ahead to prepare the way, forerunner; one ... 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 "purveyor", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

prolapse#50,166playroom#50,157Paulette#50,143passerby#50,141

What to do next

You've looked up "purveyor". Here's where to go from here.

  • Usage frequency rank #50,172 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list