| pantler | n. | baker; household officer in charge of the pantry | obsolete | |
| pantophobic | adj. | fearful of everything | ||
| pants | adj. | terrible, of bad quality | slang | |
| pap | n. | 1 | bland food, porridge; nonsense, foolish word | |
| pap | n. | 2 | teat, nipple | archaic |
| papule | n. | small pointed swelling of the skin | ||
| paradox | n. | one whose character is inconsistent | ||
| parallax | n. | apparent difference in position due to change in location of observation point | ||
| paralogism | n. | instance of spurious logic or fallacious reasoning | ||
| paraphyletic | adj. | of or related to taxonomic group containing most but not all of the descendants of a common ancestor | ||
| parataxic | adj. | emotionally unbalanced; not in harmony, unharmonious | ||
| parboil | v. | to boil partially, half boil | ||
| pard | n. | leopard | archaic | |
| paregoric | n. | camphorated tincture of opium, with anise and benzoic acid for flavoring | ||
| pareidolia | n. | misperception of meaningful patterns where none exist | ||
| parenteral | adj. | administered systemically otherwise than through alimentary canal | ||
| parergon | n. | embellishment, thing subordinate to main subject | ||
| paresis | n. | partial paralysis affecting motor function but not sensation | ||
| parfleche | n. | rawhide with hair removed; item made from such hide | ||
| pari possu | adv. | side by side; equally | Latin | |
| parietal | adj. | of or related to the top and side of the skull; of or pertaining to authority over residential relations in college, esp. between the sexes | ||
| parison | n. | mass of molten glass just before being blown into a final shape | ||
| paroicous | adj. | having male and female reproductive organs next to or near each other | botany | |
| paronomasia | n. | the use of a word in different senses for specific effect; a pun | ||
| parous | adj. | having given birth | ||
| parp | n. | horn sound; fart sound | informal | |
| parsec | n. | unit of astronomical distance equal to about 3.26 light-years, the distance to a star which has an apparent heliocentric parallax of one second when viewed from earth | ||
| parsimony | n. | frugality; miserliness | ||
| parterre | n. | ornamental flower beds; rear section of main floor in an auditorium | ||
| parthenic | adj. | virgin | ||
| parti pris | n. | preconceived notion or attitude, bias | ||
| parturition | n. | childbirth | ||
| parure | n. | jewelry set designed to be worn as an ensemble | ||
| pasquinade | n. | lampoon, satire | ||
| passel | n. | group of things of nonspecific number; bunch | ||
| pastophore | n. | lower priest of ancient Egypt charged with keeping the door of the temple | ||
| Patagonian | adj. | of or relating to Patagonia, the southernmost lands of South America in S. Chile and S. Argentina | ||
| patent | adj. | obvious | ||
| pathetic fallacy | n. | literary conceit wherein human attributes are accorded to inanimate things | rhetoric | |
| pathognomonic | adj. | specifically indicative of a particular disease or condition | ||
| pathos | n. | the quality that arouses feelings of sympathy | ||
| patria potestas | n. | absolute power in law of a father in Roman times over his progeny | Latin | |
| patronize | v. | to treat in a condescending manner; to frequent as customer; to act as a patron of | ||
| patronymic | n. | family name, surname, patronym | ||
| patten | n. | overshoe of wood or metal once worn to elevate normal footwear above mud etc. | ||
| pavid | adj. | fearful, timid | ||
| pavonine | adj. | of or like or resembling a peacock | ||
| pawky | adj. | sly; shrewd | Scots | |
| pawl | n. | pivoting bar which engages with the teeth of a ratchet to lock it in place or to drive it | ||
| pay | v. | to coat, cover, or caulk with tar or pitch |
