acculturation

/əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

//əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən// noun

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

"acculturation" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“acculturation” is uncommon English (frequency #61,246 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,246
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A process by which the culture of a society changes on contact with a different one.

Corpus desk

Index EN-acculturation · acculturation · English

acculturation · rank #61,246 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,246
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Acevedo

Nearest frequency peer: Acevedo (+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 “acculturation”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for acculturation
PropertyValue
Headwordacculturation
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
Letters13
Frequency rank#61,246
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “acculturation” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).acculturationfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Acevedo” (#61,247), “absurdist” (#61,244), “acrid” (#61,248). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “acculturation” is #61,246. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

acculturation is uncommon English at frequency #61,246 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

acculturation doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1880; ad- (“toward”) + culture + -ation (“a process”); equivalent to acculturate + -ion The correct English form is acculturation, spelled A-C-C-U-L-T-U-R-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A process by which the culture of a society changes on contact with a different one.
  2. 2
    A process by which a person acquires the culture of the society that they inhabit, starting at birth.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. It would be difficult to designate the Ghost Dance of the Indians of North America, for instance, as anything but a phenomenon of acculturation; […].
  2. The cultural complex shows such power of survival mainly because its practitioners know how to adapt to modernization, including Western medicine, just as their ancestors knew how to adapt their careers and art to acculturation processes during the Conquest and subsequent eras.

Etymology

First attested in 1880; ad- (“toward”) + culture + -ation (“a process”); equivalent to acculturate + -ion

This word in other languages

aculturación(Español)Akkulturation(Deutsch)aculturação(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 "acculturation"?
"acculturation" is spelled A-C-C-U-L-T-U-R-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/.
What does "acculturation" mean?
As a noun, "acculturation" means: A process by which the culture of a society changes on contact with a different one.
How do you pronounce "acculturation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "acculturation" is /əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/. 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 "acculturation"?
First attested in 1880; ad- (“toward”) + culture + -ation (“a process”); equivalent to acculturate + -ion 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 "acculturation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

unconstrained#61,188defensiveness#61,409Pennsylvanian#61,019fractionation#61,476

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list