erudition
/ˌɛɹʊˈdɪʃən/
"erudition" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“erudition” is uncommon English (frequency #60,062 among 18,836 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #60,062
- frequency rank, English
- 18,836
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Profound knowledge acquired from learning and scholarship.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | erudition |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɛɹʊˈdɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #60,062 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “erudition” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
erudition is uncommon English at frequency #60,062 among 18,836 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɛɹʊˈdɪʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for erudition, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in the 15th Century. From Middle French érudition, from Latin eruditio (“an instructing, learning, erudition”), from erudire (“to instruct, educate, cultivate”, literally “free from rudeness”), from e (“out”) + rudis (“rude”). The correct English form is erudition, spelled E-R-U-D-I-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Profound knowledge acquired from learning and scholarship.
- 2The refinement, polish and knowledge that education confers.
Etymology
First attested in the 15th Century. From Middle French érudition, from Latin eruditio (“an instructing, learning, erudition”), from erudire (“to instruct, educate, cultivate”, literally “free from rudeness”), from e (“out”) + rudis (“rude”).
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 “erudition”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-R-U-D-I-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɛɹʊˈdɪʃən/ (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.