decoction
/dɪˈkɒkʃən/
"decoction" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“decoction” is uncommon English (frequency #84,156 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,156
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An extraction or essence of something, obtained by boiling it down.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | decoction |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈkɒkʃən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #84,156 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “decoction” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
decoction is uncommon English at frequency #84,156 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɪˈkɒkʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
decoction has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French decoccion, decoction, from Latin decoctiō, from decoquō (“I boil down”), from de- + coquō (“I cook”). The correct English form is decoction, spelled D-E-C-O-C-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1An extraction or essence of something, obtained by boiling it down.
- 2The process of boiling something down in this way.
Etymology
From Old French decoccion, decoction, from Latin decoctiō, from decoquō (“I boil down”), from de- + coquō (“I cook”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “decoction”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-C-O-C-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈkɒkʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.