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intonation

/ɪntəˈneɪʃən/noun

intonation is spelled I-N-T-O-N-A-T-I-O-N: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, intonation means “The rise and fall of the voice in speaking” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of intonation is intonations.

How many letters and syllables are in intonation?

Letters10: I-N-T-O-N-A-T-I-O-N
Syllables4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 35,320th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 intonation?

Intonation appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th 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 intonation?

  • /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/

Intonation has 4 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)-Vealhurl-intonation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of intonation

  • intonations plural

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

What does intonation mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The rise and fall of the voice in speaking.

  2. 2

    Emotive stress used to increase the power of delivery in speech.

  3. 3

    A sound made by, or resembling that made by, a musical instrument.

  4. 4

    Singing or playing in good tune or otherwise.

    Her intonation was false.

  5. 5

    Reciting in a musical prolonged tone; intonating or singing of the opening phrase of a plain-chant, psalm, or canticle by a single voice, as of a priest.

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

Intonation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchintonation (the rise and fall of the voice in speaking)
GermanSatzmelodie, Sprachmelodie, Intonation, Tongebung (the rise and fall of the voice in speaking), Intonierung (singing or playing in good tune or otherwise)
Portugueseentonação (the rise and fall of the voice in speaking)
Spanishentonación (the rise and fall of the voice in speaking), melopeya, melopea (singing or playing in good tune or otherwise)

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 intonation come from?

From French intonation, from Medieval Latin intonatio, from intonō + -tiō.

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

What to look up after intonation