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science

sci·ence/ˈsaɪ.əns/noun, verb

science is spelled S-C-I-E-N-C-E, 2 syllables: sci·ence. The wrong spelling people search most is scince: about 210 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 120 of all searches for the word. Science is a noun meaning “A particular discipline or branch of knowledge that is natural, measurable or consisting of systematic…”. The plural of science is sciences.

How many letters and syllables are in science?

Letters7: S-C-I-E-N-C-E
Syllables2: sci·ence
In writing132 times per million words; the 792nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched3; the most searched, scince, about 210 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell science?

Science is spelled S-C-I-E-N-C-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 75 of the searches for science in either form.

sciencethe right spelling25,170 searches a month
scincea missing e210 searches a month
sceincei and e swapped90 searches a month
scinecee and n swapped40 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is science?

Science appears 132 times per million words in written English, the 792nd 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 science?

  • /ˈsaɪ.əns/

Science has 2 syllables, split sci·ence in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-science.ogg, En-ca-science.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with science

Also written: scion.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of science

  • sciences plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sciencing participle, present
  • scienced participle, past

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

What does science mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A particular discipline or branch of knowledge that is natural, measurable or consisting of systematic principles rather than intuition or technical skill.

    Of course in my opinion Social Studies is more of a science than an art.

  2. 2

    Specifically the natural sciences.

    My favorite subjects at school are science, mathematics, and history.

  3. 3

    archaicKnowledge gained through study or practice; mastery of a particular discipline or area.

  4. 4

    The fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth.

  5. 5

    The collective discipline of study or learning acquired through the scientific method; the sum of knowledge gained from such methods and discipline.

    Meronyms: physical science, life science, natural science, social science

  6. 6

    Knowledge derived from scientific disciplines, scientific method, or any systematic effort.

  7. 7

    The scientific community.

  8. 8

    Synonym of sweet science (“the sport of boxing”).

verb

  1. 1

    datedTo cause to become versed in science; to make skilled; to instruct.

  2. 2

    colloquialTo use science to solve a problem.

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

How do you abbreviate science?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of science: Sci., sci, sci..

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

Science in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchscience (collective discipline of learning acquired…)
GermanWissenschaft, Wissnschoft (collective discipline of learning acquired…), Wissen (fact of knowing something), Kenntnis, Erfahrung (knowledge gained through study or practice)
Portugueseciência (collective discipline of learning acquired…)
Spanishciencia (collective discipline of learning acquired…), conocimiento (knowledge gained through study or practice)

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 science come from?

From Middle English science, scyence, borrowed from Old French science, escience, from Latin scientia (“knowledge”), from sciēns, the present participle stem of scire (“to know”).

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

What to look up after science