# association

> English word · Noun · IPA /əˌsəʊʃiˈeɪʃn̩/ · frequency rank #1,041

## Definitions
1. The act of associating.
2. The state of being associated; a connection to or an affiliation with something.
3. Any relationship between two measured quantities that renders them statistically dependent (but not necessarily causal or a correlation).
4. A group of persons associated for a common purpose; an organization; society.
5. Relationship between classes of objects that allows one object instance to cause another to perform an action on its behalf.
6. A benevolent overseas Chinese organization of popular origin for overseas Chinese individuals with the same surname, geographical origin, location, trade or business.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Italic *ad
Proto-Italic *ad-
Latin ad-
Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós
Proto-Italic *sokjos
Latin sokios
Latin socius
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin sociō
Latin associō
Proto-Indo-European *-tisder.
Proto-Italic *-tjō
Latin -tiō
Latin associātiōbor.
English association
From Latin associātiō, from associō (perhaps via French association). Morphologically associate + -ion.
The Philippine sense is a calque of Spanish gremio.

## Easily confused with
- **associative** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/association-vs-associative)
- **associations** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/association-vs-associations)

## Common misspellings (14)
`asociation`, `asosciation`, `asscoiation`, `assocaition`, `assocciation`, `associaiton`, `associasion`, `associatino`, `associationn`, `associatoin`, `associattion`, `associtaion`, `assoication`, `sasociation`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/association