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 an uncommon English word, ranked #72,028 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#72,028
frequency rank, English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The Sunday on which the feast or festival of Pentecost falls, seven weeks after Easter.

Key facts for Whitsunday
PropertyValue
HeadwordWhitsunday
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/
Letters10
Frequency rank#72,028
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Whitsunday” 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). Whitsunday lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Whitsunday is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #72,028 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.

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.

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.

Using “Whitsunday”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is W-H-I-T-S-U-N-D-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /wɪtˈsʌndeɪ/ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list