suction
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "suction", 7-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 "suction" 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 "suction" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
suction is aEnglishnoun. It 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. Pronounced /ˈsʌkʃən/. Often confused with Sutton and scion.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | suction |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsʌkʃən/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #18,197 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for suction is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsʌkʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,197 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for suction, with forms such as "scution", "ssuction", and "sucction". 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 also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "Sutton", "scion", "station", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin sūctiō, attested since Late Latin and derived from sūgō (“to suck”). Attested in English since the early 17th century. 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 suction, spelled S-U-C-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A force which pushes matter from one space into another because the pressure inside the second space is lower than the pressure in the first.
- 2A force holding two objects together because the pressure in the space between the items is lower than the pressure outside that space.
- 3The process of creating an imbalance in pressure to draw matter from one place to another.
- 4A device for removing saliva from a patient's mouth during dental operations, a saliva ejector.
- 5influence; "pull".
Etymology
From Latin sūctiō, attested since Late Latin and derived from sūgō (“to suck”). Attested in English since the early 17th century.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: scution,ssuction,sucction,suciton,sucsion,suctino,suctionn,suctoin,sucttion,sutcion,usction
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for suction
Misspelling Variants of "suction"
Frequency rank: #18,197 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "suction"?
What does "suction" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "suction"?
How do you pronounce "suction"?
What is the origin of the word "suction"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: