excavation
ex·ca·va·tion/ˌɛkskəˈveɪʃn/noun
excavation is spelled E-X-C-A-V-A-T-I-O-N: 10 letters and 4 syllables (ex·ca·va·tion). It appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, excavation means “The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of excavation is excavations.
How many letters and syllables are in excavation?
| Letters | 10: E-X-C-A-V-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ex·ca·va·tion |
| In writing | 2.9 times per million words; the 15,798th 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 excavation?
Excavation appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th 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 excavation?
- /ˌɛkskəˈveɪʃn/
Excavation has 4 syllables, split ex·ca·va·tion in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-excavation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of excavation
- excavations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does excavation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
Near-synonyms: hollowing out, hollowing
- 2
Especially, the trade of digging engineered holes for building foundations, roadbed preparations, and similar purposes.
- 3
A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping.
- 4
An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel.
- 5
The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.
[…] to cart away the excavations from the work, and to recart the same back again so far as required to fill the trench over the sewer […]
- 6
Archaeological research that unearths buildings, tombs and objects of historical value.
- 7
A site where an archaeological exploration is being carried out.
- 8
Something uncovered by archaeological excavation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Excavation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Grabung, Ausgrabung , Ausschachtung , Aushub |
| Portuguese | escavação |
| Spanish | excavación , cavia |
| French | fouille |
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 excavation come from?
From Latin excavātiō (“a hollowing out”), from excavō (“to hollow out”), from ex + cavō (“to hollow out”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“vault, hole”). Equivalent to excavate + -ion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).