erosion

/əˈɹoʊʒən/

//əˈɹoʊʒən// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"erosion" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“erosion” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,235. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,235
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The result of having been worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face.

Corpus desk

Index EN-erosion · erosion · English

erosion · rank #12,235 · 10 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,235
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH entertained

Nearest frequency peer: entertained (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “erosion”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “erosion” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

erosion vs evasion
71% similar
erosion vs emotion
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for erosion
PropertyValue
Headworderosion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈɹoʊʒən/
Letters7
Frequency rank#12,235
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “erosion”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).erosionlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “entertained” (#12,234), “enhancing” (#12,233), “expo” (#12,237). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “erosion” is #12,235. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around erosion (IPA /əˈɹoʊʒən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,235 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for erosion, with forms such as "eorsion", "eroison", and "erosino". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "evasion", "emotion", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French erosion, from Latin ērōsiō (“eating away”), derived from ērōdō. The first known occurrence in English was in the 1541 translation by Robert Copland of Guy de Chauliac's medical text The Questyonary of Cyrurygens. Copland used erosion to d… The correct English form is erosion, spelled E-R-O-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The result of having been worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face.
  2. 2
    The changing of a surface by mechanical action, friction, thermal expansion contraction, or impact.
  3. 3
    The gradual loss of something as a result of an ongoing process.
  4. 4
    Destruction by abrasive action of fluids.
  5. 5
    One of two fundamental operations in morphological image processing from which all other morphological operations are derived.
  6. 6
    Loss of tooth enamel due to non-bacteriogenic chemical processes.
  7. 7
    A shallow ulceration or lesion, usually involving skin or epithelial tissue.
  8. 8
    In morphology, a basic operation (denoted ⊖); see Erosion (morphology).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how erosion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Father Ted: The cliffs were gone? How could they just disappear? Dougal: Erosion.
  2. Even second-generation biofuels, made from crop wastes or wood, are an environmental disaster, either extending the cultivated area or removing the straw and stovers which protect the soil from erosion and keep carbon and nutrients in the ground.

Etymology

From Middle French erosion, from Latin ērōsiō (“eating away”), derived from ērōdō. The first known occurrence in English was in the 1541 translation by Robert Copland of Guy de Chauliac's medical text The Questyonary of Cyrurygens. Copland used erosion to describe how ulcers developed in the mouth. By 1774 erosion was used outside medical subjects. Oliver Goldsmith employed the term in the more contemporary geological context, in his book Natural History, with the quote : "Bounds are thus put to the erosion of the earth by water."

This word in other languages

erosión(Español)érosion(Français)Erosion(Deutsch)erosão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eorsion
  • eroison
  • erosino
  • erosionn
  • erosoin
  • erossion
  • erotion
  • errosion
  • ersoion
  • reosion

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of erosion - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

eorsion2eroison2erosino2erosionn1erosoin2erossion1erotion1errosion1
Edit distance from "erosion"

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

How do you spell "erosion"?
"erosion" is spelled E-R-O-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈɹoʊʒən/.
What does "erosion" mean?
As a noun, "erosion" means: The result of having been worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face.
What words are commonly confused with "erosion"?
"erosion" is commonly confused with "evasion", "emotion". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "erosion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "erosion" is /əˈɹoʊʒən/. 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 "erosion"?
From Middle French erosion, from Latin ērōsiō (“eating away”), derived from ērōdō. The first known occurrence in English was in the 1541 translation by Robert Copland of Guy de Chauliac's medical text The Questyonary of Cyrurygens. Copland used er... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "erosion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Ecuador#12,230fleeing#12,243Hawkins#12,254charger#12,200

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

Geoffrey10 variantsKnicks10 variantsCanberra10 variantsbreakup10 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list