putto
/ˈpʊtəʊ/
"putto" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“putto” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A representation, especially in Renaissance or Baroque art, of a small, naked, often winged (usually male) child; a cherub.
Corpus desk
Index EN-putto · putto · English
putto · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | putto |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpʊtəʊ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “putto” in English
Rare enough to double-check
putto is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpʊtəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A representation, especially in Renaissance or Baroque art, of a small, naked, often winged (usually male) child; a cherub.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for putto, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Italian putto (“cupid, putto; boy”), from Latin putus (“boy”), a variant of pūsus (“(little) boy”), from puer (“boy, lad; child”), from Proto-Italic *puweros, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”). The plural f… The correct English form is putto, spelled P-U-T-T-O.
Definition
- 1A representation, especially in Renaissance or Baroque art, of a small, naked, often winged (usually male) child; a cherub.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how putto appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There is in the porch of the present church a tablet to Luke Flood (died 1818) which has much the appearance of having been made up of portions of earlier monuments. It is surmounted by a bas-relief of a winged boy holding an inverted torch. But not only is he a baby putto, not a youth, and without an urn, but the style and execution scarcely seem worthy…
The Carmelite scapulars held by the putto and young male saint on the right indicate that the altarpiece was intended for a church of the Carmelite order.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian putto (“cupid, putto; boy”), from Latin putus (“boy”), a variant of pūsus (“(little) boy”), from puer (“boy, lad; child”), from Proto-Italic *puweros, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”). The plural form putti is also borrowed from Italian putti.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.