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PlainSpell

suction

/ˈsʌkʃən/noun, verb

suction is spelled S-U-C-T-I-O-N: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, suction means “A force which pushes matter from one space into another because the pressure inside the second space is lower than the pressure in the first” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of suction is suctions.

How many letters and syllables are in suction?

Letters7: S-U-C-T-I-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 suction?

Suction appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th 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 suction?

  • /ˈsʌkʃən/

Suction has 2 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-suction.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of suction

  • suctions plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • suctioning participle, present
  • suctioned participle, past

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

What does suction mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A force which pushes matter from one space into another because the pressure inside the second space is lower than the pressure in the first.

  2. 2

    A force holding two objects together because the pressure in the space between the items is lower than the pressure outside that space.

  3. 3

    The process of creating an imbalance in pressure to draw matter from one place to another.

  4. 4

    A device for removing saliva from a patient's mouth during dental operations, a saliva ejector.

  5. 5

    informalinfluence; "pull".

verb

  1. 1

    To create an imbalance in pressure between one space and another in order to draw matter between the spaces.

  2. 2

    To draw out the contents of a space.

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

Suction in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsuccion (the process of creating an imbalance in…), sucer (process)
GermanSaugwirkung (the process of creating an imbalance in…), lutschen (process)
Portuguesesucção (the process of creating an imbalance in…), sugar (process)
Spanishsucción (the process of creating an imbalance in…), succionar, chupar (process)

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 suction come from?

From Latin sūctiō, sūctiōnem (whence -ion), attested since Late Latin and derived from sūctus, past participle of sūgō (“to suck”). Attested in English since the early 17th century.

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

What to look up after suction