constellation
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
13 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "constellation", 13-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 "constellation" 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 "constellation" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
constellation is aEnglishnoun. It means: An arbitrary formation of stars perceived as a figure (especially one from mythology) or pattern, or a division of the sky including it, especially one officially recognized by astronomers; an aste... Pronounced /ˌkɒn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/. Often confused with consternation.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | constellation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌkɒn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Frequency rank | #17,805 |
| Misspellings tracked | 19 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for constellation is 13 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌkɒn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,805 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 19 documented wrong-spelling variants for constellation, with forms such as "cconstellation", "cnostellation", and "connstellation". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "consternation", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constellacioun, constillacioun (“(astrology) position of the moon or a planet in relation to the ascendant sign of the zodiac; horoscope; (astronomy) formation of fixed stars, constellation; (astronomy) elevation or positi… 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 constellation, spelled C-O-N-S-T-E-L-L-A-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An arbitrary formation of stars perceived as a figure (especially one from mythology) or pattern, or a division of the sky including it, especially one officially recognized by astronomers; an asterism.
- 2An arbitrary formation of stars perceived as a figure (especially one from mythology) or pattern, or a division of the sky including it, especially one officially recognized by astronomers; an asterism.
- 3A configuration or grouping of related things.
- 4A configuration or grouping of related things.
- 5A configuration or grouping of related things.
- 6A configuration or grouping of related things.
- 7A configuration or grouping of related things.
- 8A configuration or grouping of related things.
- 9The configuration of planets at a given time (especially a person's birth), as believed to affect events on Earth, or used for determining a horoscope.
- 10A person's character or inclinations, supposedly determined by their horoscope.
Etymology
PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constellacioun, constillacioun (“(astrology) position of the moon or a planet in relation to the ascendant sign of the zodiac; horoscope; (astronomy) formation of fixed stars, constellation; (astronomy) elevation or position of the sun”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French constellation (modern French constellation), or directly from its etymon Late Latin cōnstēllātiōnem, the accusative singular of cōnstēllātiō (“collection of stars supposed to exert an influence upon human affairs, constellation”), from Latin con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of several objects) + stēlla (“star; meteor; planet”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”)) + -ātiō (suffix forming nouns).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cconstellation,cnostellation,connstellation,consetllation,consstellation,constelaltion,constelation,constellaiton,constellasion,constellatino,constellationn,constellatoin,constellattion,constelltaion,constlelation,consttellation,contsellation,cosntellation,ocnstellation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for constellation
Misspelling Variants of "constellation"
Frequency rank: #17,805 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: