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contraction

con·tract·ionUK /kənˈtɹækʃn̩/noun

contraction is spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N: 11 letters and 3 syllables (con·tract·ion). It appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, contraction means “An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of contraction is contractions.

How many letters and syllables are in contraction?

Letters11: C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N
Syllables3: con·tract·ion
In writing2.9 times per million words; the 15,798th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is contraction?

Contraction appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th 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 contraction?

  • UK /kənˈtɹækʃn̩/
  • UK /kɒn-/
  • British /kənˈtɹakʃn̩/

Contraction has 3 syllables, split con·tract·ion in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-contraction.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of contraction

  • contractions plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does contraction mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative).

    Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.

  2. 2

    archaicAn act of entering into a contract or agreement; specifically, a contract of marriage; a contracting; also (obsolete), a betrothal.

  3. 3

    The process of contracting or becoming infected with a disease.

    the contraction of malaria

  4. 4

    archaicobsoleteAn abridgement or shortening of writing, etc.; an abstract, a summary; also (uncountable), brevity, conciseness.

  5. 5

    A stage of wound healing during which the wound edges are gradually pulled together.

  6. 6

    A shortening of a muscle during its use; specifically, a strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.

  7. 7

    A period of economic decline or negative growth.

    The country’s economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.

  8. 8

    A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are reduced or lost, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.

    In the English words didn’t, that’s, and wanna, the endings -n’t, -’s, and -a arose by contraction.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate contraction?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of contraction: contn., contr, contr..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Contraction in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanAnnahme, Erwerb, Infektion, Kontamination (act of incurring debt; act of acquiring…), Ansteckung (process of contracting or becoming infected…)
Portuguesecontração (process of contracting or becoming infected…), crispação (shortening of a muscle during its use)
Frenchcontraction ((sometimes reversible) contracting or reduction…)
Spanishcontracción ((sometimes reversible) contracting or reduction…)

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.

Where does contraction come from?

From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after contraction