# pollution

> English word · Noun · IPA /pəˈljuːʃən/ · frequency rank #5,153

## Definitions
1. Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc.
2. Something that pollutes; a pollutant.
3. The desecration of something holy or sacred; defilement, profanation.
4. The ejaculation of semen outside of sexual intercourse, especially a nocturnal emission.
5. Moral or spiritual corruption; impurity, degradation, defilement.

## Etymology
From Middle English pollucioun, pollucion (“desecration, impurity”), from Anglo-Norman pollutiun, Middle French pollution, pollucion, and their source, post-classical Latin pollūtiō (“defilement, desecration; nocturnal emission”) (4th century), from the participial stem of polluō (“to soil, defile, contaminate”), from por- (“before”) + -luō (“to smear”), related to lutum (“mud”) and luēs (“filth”). Compare Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “filth, dirt, disgrace”) and λῦμαξ (lûmax, “rubbish, refuse”), Old Irish loth (“mud, dirt”), Lithuanian lutynas (“pool, puddle”).

## Easily confused with
- **polluting** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/polluting-vs-pollution)

## Common misspellings (12)
`opllution`, `plolution`, `polltuion`, `polluiton`, `pollusion`, `pollutino`, `pollutionn`, `pollutoin`, `polluttion`, `polultion`, `polution`, `ppollution`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pollution