premonition
/ˌpriːməˈnɪʃən/noun
premonition is spelled P-R-E-M-O-N-I-T-I-O-N: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, premonition means “A clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, such as a dream, which resonates with some event in the future” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of premonition is premonitions.
How many letters and syllables are in premonition?
| Letters | 11: P-R-E-M-O-N-I-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 44,209th 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 premonition?
Premonition appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,209th 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 premonition?
- /ˌpriːməˈnɪʃən/
- /ˌprɛ-/
Premonition has 4 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-premonition.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of premonition
- premonitions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does premonition mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, such as a dream, which resonates with some event in the future.
- 2
A strong intuition that something is about to happen (usually something negative, but not exclusively).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Premonition in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prémonition |
| Portuguese | premonição , pressentimento |
| Spanish | premonición , presentimiento |
| German | Vorahnung |
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 premonition come from?
First use appears c. 1533. From Anglo-Norman premunition, from Ecclesiastical Latin praemonitiōnem (“a forewarning”), form of praemonitiō, from Latin praemonitus, past participle of praemoneō, from prae (“before”) (English pre-) + moneō (“to warn”) (from which English monitor). Compare Germanic forewarning.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).