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segregation

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

Letters

11 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "segregation", 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 "segregation" 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 "segregation" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

segregation is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act of setting apart and organizing things based upon their characteristics. Pronounced /sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/.

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Key facts for segregation
PropertyValue
Headwordsegregation
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/
Letters11
Frequency rank#13,057
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for segregation is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,057 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 9 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 segregation, with forms such as "esgregation", "segergation", and "seggregation". 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: 1555. From Latin segregatio. Morphologically segregate + -ion. 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 segregation, spelled S-E-G-R-E-G-A-T-I-O-N, 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 setting apart and organizing things based upon their characteristics.
  2. 2
    The separation of people based upon race, sex, religion, or other identity in institutions.
  3. 3
    The setting apart in Mendelian inheritance of alleles, such that each parent passes only one allele to its offspring.
  4. 4
    Separation from a mass, and gathering about centers or into cavities at hand through cohesive or adhesive attraction or the crystallizing process.
  5. 5
    The separation of people (geographically, residentially, or in businesses, public transit, etc) into racial or other categories (e.g. religion, sex).
  6. 6
    The separation of people (geographically, residentially, or in businesses, public transit, etc) into various categories which occurs due to social forces (culture, etc).
  7. 7
    The separation of a pair of chromatids or chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis
  8. 8
    Separation for practical reasons, by necessity.
  9. 9
    The separation of a subset of prisoners from the general prison population, possibly solitary confinement.

Etymology

1555. From Latin segregatio. Morphologically segregate + -ion.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: esgregation,segergation,seggregation,segreagtion,segregaiton,segregasion,segregatino,segregationn,segregatoin,segregattion,segreggation,segregtaion,segrgeation,segrregation,sergegation,sgeregation,ssegregation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for segregation

Misspelling Variants of "segregation"

esgregation11segergation11seggregation12segreagtion11segregaiton11segregasion11segregatino11segregationn12
Misspelling Variants of "segregation"

Frequency rank: #13,057 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "segregation"?
"segregation" is spelled S-E-G-R-E-G-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/.
What does "segregation" mean?
As a noun, "segregation" means: The act of setting apart and organizing things based upon their characteristics.
What are common misspellings of "segregation"?
Common misspellings include "esgregation", "segergation", "seggregation", "segreagtion", "segregaiton". The correct spelling is "segregation".
How do you pronounce "segregation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "segregation" is /sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪ̯ʃən/. 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 "segregation"?
1555. From Latin segregatio. Morphologically segregate + -ion. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter S 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.