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nation

/ˈneɪʃən/noun, adverb, adjective

nation is spelled N-A-T-I-O-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 76 times per million words in written English, the 1,394th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, nation means “A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nation is nations.

How many letters and syllables are in nation?

Letters6: N-A-T-I-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing76 times per million words; the 1,394th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is nation?

Nation appears 76 times per million words in written English, the 1,394th 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 nation?

  • /ˈneɪʃən/

Nation has 2 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: En-us-nation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with nation?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as nation.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: anoint.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of nation

  • nations plural
  • 'nation

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

What does nation mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.

    The Roma are a nation without a country.

  2. 2

    informalA community united by some trait (especially an interest) but not historically constituted.

    Near-synonym: tribe

  3. 3

    A sovereign state; (loosely, metonymic, proscribed) a country.

    Though legally single nations, many states comprise several distinct cultural or ethnic groups.

  4. 4

    An association of students based on the birthplace or ethnicity of its members.

    Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, nations are now largely restricted to the ancient universities of Sweden and Finland.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA great number; a great deal.

  6. 6

    In North America, an Indigenous people with federal and/or state recognition as such and (often also) their federally recognized territory.

    The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area.

  7. 7

    rareDamnation.

    O nation!.. if I were a man, […]

adverb

  1. 1

    rareExtremely, very.

adjective

  1. 1

    rareAn intensifier; extreme, great.

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

Nation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnation (community of people), état, État, Etat (sovereign state)
GermanVolk, Nation (community of people), Staat (sovereign state)
Portuguesenação (community of people), estado (sovereign state)
Spanishnación (community of people), estado (sovereign state), sindicato (association of students)

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 nation come from?

From Middle English nacioun, nacion, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiōnem, accusative of nātiō (“nation”). Displaced Old English þēod.

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

What to look up after nation