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edification

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

11 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "edification", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "edification" 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 "edification" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

edification is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act of edifying, or the state of being edified or improved; a building process, especially morally, emotionally, or spiritually. Pronounced /ˌɛdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/.

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Key facts for edification
PropertyValue
Headwordedification
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌɛdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
Letters11
Frequency rank#67,393
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of edification in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for edification is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɛdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #67,393 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for edification in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French, from Latin aedificationem (“building, construction”), an accusative form of aedificatio, from aedificare. 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 edification, spelled E-D-I-F-I-C-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

  1. 1
    The act of edifying, or the state of being edified or improved; a building process, especially morally, emotionally, or spiritually.
  2. 2
    A building or edifice.

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin aedificationem (“building, construction”), an accusative form of aedificatio, from aedificare.

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #67,393 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "edification"?
"edification" is spelled E-D-I-F-I-C-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌɛdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/.
What does "edification" mean?
As a noun, "edification" means: The act of edifying, or the state of being edified or improved; a building process, especially morally, emotionally, or spiritually.
How do you pronounce "edification"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "edification" is /ˌɛdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "edification"?
From Old French, from Latin aedificationem (“building, construction”), an accusative form of aedificatio, from aedificare. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

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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.