meditation
/mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/noun
meditation is spelled M-E-D-I-T-A-T-I-O-N: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, meditation means “A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of meditation is meditations.
How many letters and syllables are in meditation?
| Letters | 10: M-E-D-I-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd 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 meditation?
Meditation appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 meditation?
- /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/
Meditation 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-meditation.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-meditation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of meditation
- meditations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does meditation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation.
- 2
Any of various types of achieving more or less altered states of consciousness, such as vacancy of mind or prolonged contemplation on a single sensation or thought, through relaxed or focused mental and physical activity generally of a nonstrenuous and non–substance-induced nature.
- 3
A contemplative discourse, often on a religious or philosophical subject.
Her book is less a cookbook than a meditation on the craft of cookery.
- 4
A musical theme treated in a meditative manner.
- 5
Careful and thorough thought.
deep meditation
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Meditation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense devotional contemplation:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | méditation |
| German | Meditation |
| Portuguese | meditação |
| Spanish | meditación |
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 meditation come from?
From Old French meditacion, from Latin meditatio, from meditatus, the past participle of meditārī (“to meditate, to think over, consider”), itself from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure, limit, consider, advise”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).