exhalation

noun

"exhalation" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“exhalation” is uncommon English (frequency #60,073 among 2,246 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,073
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act or process of exhaling; breathing out

Corpus desk

Index EN-exhalation · exhalation · English

exhalation · rank #60,073 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,073
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH exfoliation

Nearest frequency peer: exfoliation (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “exhalation”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “exhalation” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for exhalation
PropertyValue
Headwordexhalation
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#60,073
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “exhalation” in English

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).exhalationfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “exfoliation” (#60,072), “exfoliate” (#60,071), “evolutionarily” (#60,070). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “exhalation” is #60,073. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

exhalation is uncommon English at frequency #60,073 among 2,246 “E” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for exhalation in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin exhālātiō, from exhālō (“to breathe out, to exhale”), from hālō (“to breathe”). Equivalent to exhale + -ation. The correct English form is exhalation, spelled E-X-H-A-L-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act or process of exhaling; breathing out
  2. 2
    That which is exhaled, or which rises in the form of vapor, fume, or steam
  3. 3
    A bright phenomenon; a meteor.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. short exhalations of breath
  2. exhalations from the earth or flowers

Etymology

From Latin exhālātiō, from exhālō (“to breathe out, to exhale”), from hālō (“to breathe”). Equivalent to exhale + -ation.

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

How do you spell "exhalation"?
"exhalation" is spelled E-X-H-A-L-A-T-I-O-N.
What does "exhalation" mean?
As a noun, "exhalation" means: The act or process of exhaling; breathing out
What is the origin of the word "exhalation"?
From Latin exhālātiō, from exhālō (“to breathe out, to exhale”), from hālō (“to breathe”). Equivalent to exhale + -ation. 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 "exhalation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list