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nourishment

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

11 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "nourishment", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "nourishment" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "nourishment" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

nourishment is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act of nourishing or the state of being nourished. Pronounced /ˈnʌɹɪʃmənt/.

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Key facts for nourishment
PropertyValue
Headwordnourishment
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈnʌɹɪʃmənt/
Letters11
Frequency rank#27,947
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of nourishment in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for nourishment is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnʌɹɪʃmənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,947 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 17 documented wrong-spelling variants for nourishment, with forms such as "nnourishment", "noruishment", and "nouirshment". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English norisshement, from Middle French, from Old French norissement, from norrir, equivalent to nourish + -ment. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is nourishment, spelled N-O-U-R-I-S-H-M-E-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of nourishing or the state of being nourished.
  2. 2
    Something that nourishes; food.

Etymology

From Middle English norisshement, from Middle French, from Old French norissement, from norrir, equivalent to nourish + -ment.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: nnourishment,noruishment,nouirshment,nourihsment,nourishemnt,nourishhment,nourishmennt,nourishmentt,nourishmetn,nourishmment,nourishmnet,nourismhent,nourisshment,nourrishment,noursihment,nuorishment,onurishment

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for nourishment

Misspelling Variants of "nourishment"

nnourishment12noruishment11nouirshment11nourihsment11nourishemnt11nourishhment12nourishmennt12nourishmentt12
Misspelling Variants of "nourishment"

Frequency rank: #27,947 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nourishment"?
"nourishment" is spelled N-O-U-R-I-S-H-M-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈnʌɹɪʃmənt/.
What does "nourishment" mean?
As a noun, "nourishment" means: The act of nourishing or the state of being nourished.
What are common misspellings of "nourishment"?
Common misspellings include "nnourishment", "noruishment", "nouirshment", "nourihsment", "nourishemnt". The correct spelling is "nourishment".
How do you pronounce "nourishment"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nourishment" is /ˈnʌɹɪʃmənt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "nourishment"?
From Middle English norisshement, from Middle French, from Old French norissement, from norrir, equivalent to nourish + -ment. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter N in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.