prolongation
/ˌpɹəʊlɒŋˈɡeɪʃən/
"prolongation" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prolongation” is uncommon English (frequency #61,044 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,044
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of prolonging.
Corpus desk
Index EN-prolongation · prolongation · English
prolongation · rank #61,044 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #61,044
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH preserver
Nearest frequency peer: preserver (-3 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “prolongation”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Prabhu
Prabhu
38,963 corpus weight
- prashant
prashant
38,962 corpus weight
- preachy
preachy
38,961 corpus weight
- preserver
preserver
38,960 corpus weight
- prolongation
prolongation
38,957 corpus weight
- publicise
publicise
38,954 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “prolongation” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prolongation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌpɹəʊlɒŋˈɡeɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #61,044 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “prolongation” in English
Rare enough to double-check
prolongation is uncommon English at frequency #61,044 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌpɹəʊlɒŋˈɡeɪʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for prolongation in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English prolongacioun, from Old French prolongation, from Late Latin prōlongātiō, from prōlongātus, perfect passive participle of Latin prōlongō, from prō + longus. By surface analysis, prolong + -ation. The correct English form is prolongation, spelled P-R-O-L-O-N-G-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of prolonging.
- 2That which has been prolonged; an extension.
Etymology
From Middle English prolongacioun, from Old French prolongation, from Late Latin prōlongātiō, from prōlongātus, perfect passive participle of Latin prōlongō, from prō + longus. By surface analysis, prolong + -ation.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "prolongation", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).