etiolation
/ˌiːtiəˈleɪʃən/noun
etiolation is a noun meaning “Growth process of plants grown in the absence of light, characterized by long, weak stems, fewer leaves and chlorosis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled E-T-I-O-L-A-T-I-O-N, and it appears about once in every 79 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of etiolation is etiolations.
What does etiolation mean?
noun
- 1
Growth process of plants grown in the absence of light, characterized by long, weak stems, fewer leaves and chlorosis.
- 2
Blanching of plants, accomplished by excluding the light of the sun; the condition of a blanched plant.
- 3
Paleness produced by absence of light, or by disease.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce etiolation?
- /ˌiːtiəˈleɪʃən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of etiolation
- etiolations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is etiolation?
Etiolation appears about once in every 79 million words in written English, the 282,993rd 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).
Etiolation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense growth process of plants grown in the absence of light:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Vergeilung, Etiolement |
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 etiolation come from?
From French étiolé, past participle of étioler (“to blanch”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).