delectation
/ˌdiːlɛkˈteɪʃən/
"delectation" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“delectation” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Great pleasure; delight.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | delectation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdiːlɛkˈteɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “delectation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for delectation is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌdiːlɛkˈteɪʃən/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Great pleasure; delight.".
delectation doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested from the mid 14th century, from Old French delectation (“enjoyment”), from Latin dēlectātiōnem, accusative singular of dēlectātiō, from the verb Latin dēlectō (“I delight, charm, please”), frequentative of dēliciō, from de- (“away”) + laciō (“I lur… The correct English form is delectation, spelled D-E-L-E-C-T-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Great pleasure; delight.
Etymology
Attested from the mid 14th century, from Old French delectation (“enjoyment”), from Latin dēlectātiōnem, accusative singular of dēlectātiō, from the verb Latin dēlectō (“I delight, charm, please”), frequentative of dēliciō, from de- (“away”) + laciō (“I lure, I deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. By surface analysis, delect + -ation or delectate + -ion. Related to delight and delicious.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “delectation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-L-E-C-T-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdiːlɛkˈteɪʃən/ (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
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.