dystocia
dys·to·cia/dɪsˈtoʊʃə/noun
dystocia is spelled D-Y-S-T-O-C-I-A: 8 letters and 3 syllables (dys·to·cia). It appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dystocia means “A slow or difficult labour or delivery” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dystocia is dystocias.
How many letters and syllables are in dystocia?
| Letters | 8: D-Y-S-T-O-C-I-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: dys·to·cia |
| In writing | about once in every 22 million words; the 143,405th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 dystocia?
Dystocia appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th 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 dystocia?
- US /dɪsˈtoʊʃə/
- UK /dɪsˈtəʊʃə/
Dystocia has 3 syllables, split dys·to·cia in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-dystocia.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dystocia
- dystocias plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dystocia mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A slow or difficult labour or delivery.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dystocia in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense slow or difficult labour or delivery:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dystocie |
| German | Gebärschwierigkeit |
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 dystocia come from?
From Ancient Greek δυστοκία (dustokía, “difficult childbirth”), from δυσ- (dus-, “bad”) + τόκος (tókos, “childbirth”), from τίκτω (tíktō, “I give birth”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).