fornication
/ˌfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/noun
fornication is spelled F-O-R-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fornication means “Sexual intercourse by people who are not married to each other, or which is considered illicit in another way” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fornication is fornications.
How many letters and syllables are in fornication?
| Letters | 11: F-O-R-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,154th 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 fornication?
Fornication appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th 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 fornication?
- /ˌfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fornication.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fornication
- fornications plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fornication mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Sexual intercourse by people who are not married to each other, or which is considered illicit in another way.
- 2
colloquialSexual intercourse in general; sex.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fornication in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sexual intercourse considered illicit:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fornication |
| German | Unzucht |
| Portuguese | fornicação |
| Spanish | fornicación |
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 fornication come from?
From Middle English fornicacioun, from Old French fornicacion, from Latin fornicātiō, from fornix (“brothel”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).