addition
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "addition", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "addition" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "addition" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
addition is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act of adding anything. Pronounced /əˈdɪʃ.ən/. It ranks #1,037 in English word frequency. Often confused with adoption and ambition.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | addition |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈdɪʃ.ən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,037 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for addition is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈdɪʃ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,037 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for addition, with forms such as "addiiton", "addision", and "additino". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "adoption", "ambition", "audition", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tder. Proto-Italic *-ðō Latin -dō Latin addō Latin additiōder. Old French aditionder. Middle English addicioun Englis… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is addition, spelled A-D-D-I-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The act of adding anything.
- 2Anything that is added.
- 3The arithmetic operation of adding.
- 4A dot at the right side of a note as an indication that its sound is to be lengthened one half.
- 5A title annexed to a person's name to identify him or her more precisely.
- 6Something added to a coat of arms, as a mark of honour.
- 7an organic reaction where two or more molecules combine to form a larger one (the adduct).
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tder. Proto-Italic *-ðō Latin -dō Latin addō Latin additiōder. Old French aditionder. Middle English addicioun English addition Sense of “what is added” dates from 14th century, from Middle English addicioun, addition, from Old French adition, from Latin additiōnem, accusative singular of additiō, from addō (“add, put”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: addiiton,addision,additino,additionn,additoin,addittion,addtiion,adidtion,adition,dadition
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for addition
Misspelling Variants of "addition"
Frequency rank: #1,037 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index: