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motherland

/ˈmʌðɚˌlænd/noun

motherland is spelled M-O-T-H-E-R-L-A-N-D: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, motherland means “The country of one's ancestors” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of motherland is motherlands.

How many letters and syllables are in motherland?

Letters10: M-O-T-H-E-R-L-A-N-D
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.1 times per million words; the 27,150th 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 motherland?

Motherland appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th 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 motherland?

  • US /ˈmʌðɚˌlænd/
  • UK /ˈmʌð.ə.lænd/

Motherland 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)-Wodencafe-motherland.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of motherland

  • motherlands plural
  • mother-land

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

What does motherland mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The country of one's ancestors.

  2. 2

    The country of one's birth.

  3. 3

    Country of origin.

  4. 4

    Mother country in contrast to its colonies.

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

Motherland in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpatrie, matrie (the country of one's ancestors)
GermanVaterland (the country of one's ancestors), Heimat, Heimatland (the country of one's birth), Mutterland (mother country in contrast to its colonies)
Portuguesepaís de origem (the country of one's ancestors), pátria, pátria-mãe (the country of one's birth), metrópole (mother country in contrast to its colonies)
Spanishpatria (the country of one's ancestors)

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 motherland come from?

From mother + land. First attested in 1711.

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

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