selection
/səˈlɛkʃən/noun
selection is spelled S-E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, selection means “The process or act of selecting” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of selection is selections.
How many letters and syllables are in selection?
| Letters | 9: S-E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 42 times per million words; the 2,392nd 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 selection?
Selection appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd 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 selection?
- /səˈlɛkʃən/
Selection has 3 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: En-us-selection.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of selection
- selections plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does selection mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The process or act of selecting.
The large number of good candidates made selection difficult.
- 2
Something selected.
My final selection was a 1934 Chateau Lafite.
- 3
A variety of items taken from a larger collection.
I've brought a selection of fine cheeses to go with your wine.
- 4
A musical piece.
For my next selection, I'll play Happy Birthday in F-sharp minor.
- 5
A set of data obtained from a database using a query.
- 6
The ability of predicates to determine the semantic content of their arguments.
- 7
A list of items on which user operations will take place.
- 8
A unary operation that denotes a subset of a relation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Selection in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sélection |
| German | Anwahl, Auswahl, Wahl, Aufruf, Aussonderung , Auslese |
| Portuguese | seleção |
| Spanish | selección |
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 selection come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin sēlēctiō (“the act of choosing out, selection”), from sēligō (“choose out, select”), from sē- (“apart”) + legō (“gather, select”). Equivalent to select + -ion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).