gestation
/d͡ʒɛsˈteɪʃən/noun
gestation is spelled G-E-S-T-A-T-I-O-N: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gestation means “The period of time during which an animal or human offspring physically develops inside the mother's body until it is born” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gestation is gestations.
How many letters and syllables are in gestation?
| Letters | 9: G-E-S-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words; the 28,918th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is gestation?
Gestation appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,918th 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 gestation?
- /d͡ʒɛsˈteɪʃən/
Gestation has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-gestation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of gestation
- gestations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gestation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The period of time during which an animal or human offspring physically develops inside the mother's body until it is born.
- 2
The process of development of a plan or idea.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gestation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense period of time a fetus develops inside mother's body – see also pregnancy:
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 gestation come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin gestātiō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).