symposium
/sɪmˈpəʊziəm/
"symposium" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“symposium” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,871 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,871
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A conference or other meeting for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants make presentations.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | symposium |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sɪmˈpəʊziəm/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #12,871 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “symposium” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for symposium is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɪmˈpəʊziəm/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,871 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for symposium, with forms such as "smyposium", "ssymposium", and "symmposium". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin symposium, from Ancient Greek συμπόσιον (sumpósion, “drinking party”) from συμπίνω (sumpínō, “drink together”) συν- (sun-, “together-”) + πίνω (pínō, “drink”). The correct English form is symposium, spelled S-Y-M-P-O-S-I-U-M.
Definition
- 1A conference or other meeting for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants make presentations.
- 2A drinking party in Ancient Greece, especially one with intellectual discussion.
- 3A collection of essays, articles or papers on a particular subject by a number of contributors.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin symposium, from Ancient Greek συμπόσιον (sumpósion, “drinking party”) from συμπίνω (sumpínō, “drink together”) συν- (sun-, “together-”) + πίνω (pínō, “drink”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: smyposium,ssymposium,symmposium,symopsium,sympoisum,symposimu,symposiumm,sympossium,symposuim,sympposium,sympsoium,sypmosium,syymposium,ysmposium
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of symposium - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "symposium"?
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Using “symposium”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-Y-M-P-O-S-I-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɪmˈpəʊziəm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.