Whitsunday

/wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/

//wɪtˈsʌndeɪ// noun

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

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

The verdict

“Whitsunday” is uncommon English (frequency #72,028 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,028
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The Sunday on which the feast or festival of Pentecost falls, seven weeks after Easter.

Corpus desk

Index EN-whitsunday · Whitsunday · English

Whitsunday · rank #72,028 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,028
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH Weisman

Nearest frequency peer: Weisman (-1 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 “Whitsunday”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Whitsunday
PropertyValue
HeadwordWhitsunday
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/
Letters10
Frequency rank#72,028
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Whitsunday” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Whitsundayfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Weisman” (#72,027), “Wilkin” (#72,029), “weatherproof” (#72,026). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “Whitsunday” is #72,028. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Whitsunday is uncommon English at frequency #72,028 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Whitsunday, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English Whitsonday, from whit (“white”) + Sonday (“Sunday”), from Old English hwīt sunnandæg, probably from the white clothes worn by newly baptized Christians as Pentecost was a traditional date of baptism in early medieval England. D… The correct English form is Whitsunday, spelled W-H-I-T-S-U-N-D-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The Sunday on which the feast or festival of Pentecost falls, seven weeks after Easter.
  2. 2
    A quarter day falling on 15th May.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Holonyms: Pentecost (season), Whitsun, Whitsuntide, Whit
  2. Jesus, ascended into Heav'n again/Bestow'd this won'drous Gift upon good Men/That various Nations, by his Spirit led,/All understood what Galileans said.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English Whitsonday, from whit (“white”) + Sonday (“Sunday”), from Old English hwīt sunnandæg, probably from the white clothes worn by newly baptized Christians as Pentecost was a traditional date of baptism in early medieval England. Doublet of White Sunday.

This word in other languages

Pentecostés(Español)Pentecôte(Français)Pfingstsonntag(Deutsch)Pentecostes(Português)

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 "Whitsunday"?
"Whitsunday" is spelled W-H-I-T-S-U-N-D-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/.
What does "Whitsunday" mean?
As a noun, "Whitsunday" means: The Sunday on which the feast or festival of Pentecost falls, seven weeks after Easter.
How do you pronounce "Whitsunday"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Whitsunday" is /wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/. 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 "Whitsunday"?
Inherited from Middle English Whitsonday, from whit (“white”) + Sonday (“Sunday”), from Old English hwīt sunnandæg, probably from the white clothes worn by newly baptized Christians as Pentecost was a traditional date of baptism in early medieval ... 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 "Whitsunday", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

unsinkable#72,008unimproved#72,000abbreviate#72,057afterparty#72,069

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list