acculturation
/əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
"acculturation" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acculturation” is uncommon English (frequency #61,246 among 35,202 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,246
- frequency rank, English
- 35,202
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A process by which the culture of a society changes on contact with a different one.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | acculturation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #61,246 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “acculturation” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
acculturation is uncommon English at frequency #61,246 among 35,202 “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
- 1A process by which the culture of a society changes on contact with a different one.
- 2A process by which a person acquires the culture of the society that they inhabit, starting at birth.
Etymology
First attested in 1880; ad- (“toward”) + culture + -ation (“a process”); equivalent to acculturate + -ion
This word in other languages
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
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Using “acculturation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-C-U-L-T-U-R-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˌkʌl.t͡ʃəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.