interjection

/ɪn.təˈdʒɛk.ʃən/

//ɪn.təˈdʒɛk.ʃən// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"interjection" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“interjection” is uncommon English (frequency #78,718 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,718
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An exclamation or filled pause; a word or phrase with no particular grammatical relation to a sentence, often an expression of emotion.

Corpus desk

Index EN-interjection · interjection · English

interjection · rank #78,718 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,718
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH infinitesimal…

Nearest frequency peer: infinitesimally (-2 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 “interjection”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for interjection
PropertyValue
Headwordinterjection
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɪn.təˈdʒɛk.ʃən/
Letters12
Frequency rank#78,718
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “interjection” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).interjectionfalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “infinitesimally” (#78,716), “Inverclyde” (#78,720), “indefinable” (#78,711). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “interjection” is #78,718. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

interjection is uncommon English at frequency #78,718 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɪn.təˈdʒɛk.ʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for interjection, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. 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 Middle English interjeccioun, from Old French interjection (13th century), from Latin interiectiōnem, accusative singular of interiectiō (“throwing or placing between; interjection”), perfect passive participle of intericiō (“throw or place between”), … The correct English form is interjection, spelled I-N-T-E-R-J-E-C-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An exclamation or filled pause; a word or phrase with no particular grammatical relation to a sentence, often an expression of emotion.
  2. 2
    An interruption; something interjected

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. 322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles. 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
  2. Some evidence confirming our suspicions that topicalised and dislocated constituents occupy different sentence positions comes from Greenberg (1984). He notes that in colloquial speech the interjection man can occur after dislocated constituents, but not after topicalised constituents: cf. (21) (a) Bill, man, I really hate him (dislocated NP) (21) (b) ^✽B…

Etymology

From Middle English interjeccioun, from Old French interjection (13th century), from Latin interiectiōnem, accusative singular of interiectiō (“throwing or placing between; interjection”), perfect passive participle of intericiō (“throw or place between”), from inter (“between”) + iaciō (“throw”). Displaced Old English betwēoxāworpennes (literally “between-thrown-out-ness”), a calque of the Latin.

Synonyms

exclamationinterjinterj.insertioninterpolationintercalation

This word in other languages

interjección(Español)interjection(Français)Interjektion(Deutsch)interjeição(Português)

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 "interjection"?
"interjection" is spelled I-N-T-E-R-J-E-C-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪn.təˈdʒɛk.ʃən/.
What does "interjection" mean?
As a noun, "interjection" means: An exclamation or filled pause; a word or phrase with no particular grammatical relation to a sentence, often an expression of emotion.
How do you pronounce "interjection"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "interjection" is /ɪn.təˈdʒɛk.ʃən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "interjection"?
From Middle English interjeccioun, from Old French interjection (13th century), from Latin interiectiōnem, accusative singular of interiectiō (“throwing or placing between; interjection”), perfect passive participle of intericiō (“throw or place b... 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 "interjection", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

imperishable#78,704iconographic#78,701meritocratic#78,819metallurgist#78,820

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list