circumcision
/ˌsɜː(ɹ)kəmˈsɪʒən/noun
circumcision is spelled C-I-R-C-U-M-C-I-S-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is circumsicion: about 120 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 59 of all searches for the word. Circumcision is a noun meaning “The surgical excision of the foreskin and usually all or most of the penile frenulum”. The plural of circumcision is circumcisions.
How many letters and syllables are in circumcision?
| Letters | 12: C-I-R-C-U-M-C-I-S-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.6 times per million words; the 22,073rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, circumsicion, about 120 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell circumcision?
Circumcision is spelled C-I-R-C-U-M-C-I-S-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 59 of the searches for circumcision in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is circumcision?
Circumcision appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,073rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce circumcision?
- /ˌsɜː(ɹ)kəmˈsɪʒən/
Circumcision has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-circumcision.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of circumcision
- circumcisions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does circumcision mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The surgical excision of the foreskin and usually all or most of the penile frenulum.
- 2
Pharisaic circumcision.
- 3
Other surgeries involving the incision or partial excision of the foreskin or penile frenulum without total posthetomy.
The ancient Egyptians practiced circumcision by creating a dorsal incision in the foreskin.
- 4
The surgical excision of the clitoral hood of the clitoris; female circumcision.
- 5
proscribedThe surgical excision of the clitoris; clitoridectomy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Circumcision in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense removal of foreskin from penis:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | circoncision |
| German | Beschneidung, Zirkumzision |
| Portuguese | circuncisão |
| Spanish | circuncisión |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.