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adoption

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "adoption", 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 "adoption" 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 "adoption" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

adoption is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act of adopting. Pronounced /əˈdɑp.ʃən/. It ranks #5,384 in English word frequency. Often confused with adoptive and adoration.

Key facts for adoption
PropertyValue
Headwordadoption
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈdɑp.ʃən/
Letters8
Frequency rank#5,384
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of adoption in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for adoption is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈdɑp.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,384 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for adoption, with forms such as "addoption", "adopiton", and "adopption". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "adoptive", "adoration", "adsorption", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French adoption, from Latin adoptio, allied to adoptare (“to adopt”). Equivalent to adopt + -ion. 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 adoption, spelled A-D-O-P-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of adopting.
  2. 2
    The state of being adopted; the acceptance of a child of other parents as if they were one's own child.
  3. 3
    An admission to an institution, for example a hospital, clinic, mental asylum.
  4. 4
    The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance.
  5. 5
    The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance.
  6. 6
    The transfer from an old system to another (usually better) system.
  7. 7
    An act of divine grace by which the redeemed in Christ are admitted to the privileges of the sons of God.
  8. 8
    Ten consecutive wins against an opponent.

Etymology

Borrowed from French adoption, from Latin adoptio, allied to adoptare (“to adopt”). Equivalent to adopt + -ion.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: addoption,adopiton,adopption,adopsion,adoptino,adoptionn,adoptoin,adopttion,adotpion,adpotion,aodption,daoption

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for adoption

Misspelling Variants of "adoption"

addoption9adopiton8adopption9adopsion8adoptino8adoptionn9adoptoin8adopttion9
Misspelling Variants of "adoption"

Frequency rank: #5,384 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "adoption"?
"adoption" is spelled A-D-O-P-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈdɑp.ʃən/.
What does "adoption" mean?
As a noun, "adoption" means: The act of adopting.
What words are commonly confused with "adoption"?
"adoption" is commonly confused with "adoptive", "adoration", "adsorption". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "adoption"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "adoption" is /əˈdɑp.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 "adoption"?
Borrowed from French adoption, from Latin adoptio, allied to adoptare (“to adopt”). Equivalent to adopt + -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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.