Skip to main content
PlainSpell

gumption

gump·tion/ˈɡʌmpʃən/noun

gumption is spelled G-U-M-P-T-I-O-N: 8 letters and 2 syllables (gump·tion). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gumption means “Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gumption is gumptions.

How many letters and syllables are in gumption?

Letters8: G-U-M-P-T-I-O-N
Syllables2: gump·tion
In writingabout once in every 4 million words; the 60,074th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 gumption?

Gumption appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th 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 gumption?

  • /ˈɡʌmpʃən/

Gumption has 2 syllables, split gump·tion in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-gumption.ogg, En-au-gumption.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of gumption

  • gumptions plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does gumption mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    IrelandUKCommon sense, initiative, resourcefulness.

  2. 2

    USBoldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative.

  3. 3

    USEnergy of body and mind, enthusiasm.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate gumption?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of gumption: gump.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Gumption in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanGrips, Vernunft (common sense, initiative), Biss, Durchhaltevermögen, Unternehmenssinn (boldness of enterprise), Enthusiasmus (energy of body and mind)
Portuguesebom senso (common sense, initiative), coragem, iniciativa (boldness of enterprise), entusiasmo (energy of body and mind)
Spanishcaletre (common sense, initiative), coraje, iniciativa (boldness of enterprise), entusiasmo (energy of body and mind)

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 gumption come from?

Borrowed from Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”), from Proto-Germanic *gaumō. English cognates include gaum (“to comprehend, understand”) and goam (“to recognize, see”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after gumption