syncopation
/ˌsɪŋ.kəˈpeɪ.ʃən/noun
syncopation is spelled S-Y-N-C-O-P-A-T-I-O-N: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, syncopation means “The contraction of a word by means of loss or omission of sounds or syllables in the middle thereof” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of syncopation is syncopations.
How many letters and syllables are in syncopation?
| Letters | 11: S-Y-N-C-O-P-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 88,353rd 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 syncopation?
Syncopation appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd 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 syncopation?
- /ˌsɪŋ.kəˈpeɪ.ʃən/
Syncopation has 4 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-syncopation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of syncopation
- syncopations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does syncopation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The contraction of a word by means of loss or omission of sounds or syllables in the middle thereof.
- 2
The quality of a rhythm being somehow unexpected, in that it deviates from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats in a meter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Syncopation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense rhythm quality:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | syncopation |
| Portuguese | síncope, sincopação |
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 syncopation come from?
From syncopate + -ion. The phonological sense was first attested in English in the 1530's, the musical sense in the 1590's.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).