expression
ex·pres·sion/əkˈspɹɛʃ.n̩/noun
expression is spelled E-X-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N, 3 syllables: ex·pres·sion. The wrong spelling people search most is expresion: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026). Expression is a noun meaning “The action of expressing thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc”. The plural of expression is expressions.
How many letters and syllables are in expression?
| Letters | 10: E-X-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ex·pres·sion |
| In writing | 35 times per million words; the 2,725th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, expresion, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell expression?
Expression is spelled E-X-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is expression?
Expression appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th 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 expression?
- /əkˈspɹɛʃ.n̩/
- /ɛkˈspɹɛʃ.n̩/
Expression has 3 syllables, split ex·pres·sion in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-expression.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of expression
- expressions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does expression mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The action of expressing thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc.
- 2
A particular way of phrasing an idea.
- 3
A colloquialism or idiom.
The expression "break a leg!" should not be taken literally.
- 4
A facial appearance usually associated with an emotion.
They stared at the newcomer with a puzzled expression.
- 5
An arrangement of symbols denoting values, operations performed on them, and grouping symbols.
- 6
The process of translating a gene into a protein.
- 7
A piece of code in a high-level language that returns a value.
- 8
A specific blend of whisky.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Expression in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | expression |
| German | Ausdruck, Redeweise, Redensart , Wendung |
| Portuguese | expressão |
| Spanish | expresión , modismo |
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 expression come from?
Borrowed from Middle French expression, from Late Latin expressiō, expressiōnem (“a pressing out”). Morphologically express + -ion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).