9-letter words that end in a
- philopena — a custom, presumably of German origin, in which two persons share the kernels of a nut and determine that one shall receive a forfeit from the other at a later time upon the saying of a certain word or the performance of a certain action.
- phlyctena — a small vesicle, blister, or pustule.
- phoenicia — an ancient kingdom on the Mediterranean, in the region of modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.
- pholidota — the order comprising the pangolins.
- photalgia — pain, as in an eye, that is caused by intensity of light.
- photopsia — a rare disease of the eye's retina that results in the perception of flashes of light
- pintadera — a decorative stamp, usually made of clay, found in the Neolithic of the E Mediterranean and in many American cultures
- pizzaiola — (of a sauce or dish) made with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and other seasonings
- placentia — a town in S California.
- plasmodia — Biology. an ameboid, multinucleate mass or sheet of cytoplasm characteristic of some stages of organisms, as of myxomycetes or slime molds.
- pleonexia — excessive greed
- pluripara — a woman or other mammal who has borne more than one child
- pneumonia — inflammation of the lungs with congestion.
- podgorica — a republic in S Europe since 2006: formerly a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, in the SW part (1918–2006); an independent kingdom 1878–1918. 6333 sq. mi. (13,812 sq. km). Capital: Podgorica.
- pododynia — pain in the sole of the foot.
- podotheca — the horny integument covering unfeathered portions of the legs and toes of most birds.
- poinciana — royal poinciana.
- pollyanna — an excessively or blindly optimistic person.
- polyantha — a type of clustering flower
- polylemma — a debate forcing a choice between contradictory positions
- polynesia — one of the three principal divisions of Oceania, comprising those island groups in the Pacific lying E of Melanesia and Micronesia and extending from the Hawaiian Islands S to New Zealand.
- polypnoea — rapid breathing; panting.
- pomerania — a former province of NE Germany, now mostly in NW Poland.
- ponderosa — a North American pine tree
- porchetta — Italian boneless stuffed pork cut from a whole roast pig
- porphyria — a defect of blood pigment metabolism in which porphyrins are produced in excess, are present in the blood, and are found in the urine.
- port vila — the capital of Vanuatu, on the island of Efate. Pop: 44 040 (2009)
- portulaca — any of various fleshy-leaved plants of the genus Portulaca, especially P. grandiflora, widely cultivated for its showy, variously colored flowers.
- postulata — things postulated
- pozzolana — a porous variety of volcanic tuff or ash used in making hydraulic cement.
- praeludia — musical preludes
- praetexta — (in ancient Rome) a white toga with a broad purple border, worn by priests and magistrates as an official costume, and by certain other Romans as ceremonial dress.
- pranayama — (in yoga) the art of breath control, practised as an aid to concentration
- prenomina — praenomen.
- primavera — a central American tree, Cybistax donnell-smithii, of the bignonia family, having showy, tubular yellow flowers.
- primipara — a woman who has borne but one child or who is parturient for the first time.
- primordia — the first recognizable, histologically differentiated stage in the development of an organ.
- principia — a principle.
- priscilla — a female given name: from a Roman family name.
- prisiadka — a step in Slavic folk dancing in which the dancer squats on the haunches and kicks out each foot alternately; the characteristic step of the kazachok.
- pro forma — according to form; as a matter of form; for the sake of form.
- procambia — plant part in stem and root
- proctodea — parts of the anus
- proseucha — a place of prayer, esp for Jewish worship
- prosphora — antidoron.
- protonema — a primary, usually filamentous structure produced by the germination of the spore in mosses and certain related plants, and from which the leafy plant which bears the sexual organs arises as a lateral or terminal shoot.
- puerperia — periods of around six weeks following childbirths when uteruses return to their normal size and shape
- pulqueria — a tavern selling pulque.
- putonghua — the form of Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, adopted as the official national language of China.
- putrajaya — officially the capital of Malaysia since 1999, in the SW Malay Peninsula, and forming its own federal territory; a high-tech garden city (including nearby Cyberjaya); construction began in 1995 and is expected to be complete in about 2010, with a planned population of over 300 000; government functions transferred in stages from Kuala Lumpur, starting in 1999