mutation
/mjuˈteɪʃən/noun
mutation is spelled M-U-T-A-T-I-O-N: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mutation means “Any alteration or change” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mutation is mutations.
How many letters and syllables are in mutation?
| Letters | 8: M-U-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th 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 mutation?
Mutation appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th 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 mutation?
- /mjuˈteɪʃən/
Mutation 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)-Vealhurl-mutation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mutation
- mutations plural
- mutat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mutation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any alteration or change.
- 2
Any heritable change of the base-pair sequence of genetic material.
- 3
A mutant.
- 4
An alteration in a particular sound of a word, especially the initial consonant, which is triggered by the word's morphological or syntactic context and not by its phonological context.
- 5
The transfer of title of an asset in a register.
- 6
rareA group of thrushes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate mutation?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of mutation: mutat..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mutation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense heritable change in genetic material:
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 mutation come from?
Late 14th century as Middle English mutacioun, from Latin mūtātiō, both directly and via Old French mutacion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).