Skip to main content
PlainSpell

vacation

va·ca·tion/veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/noun, verb

vacation is spelled V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N: 8 letters and 3 syllables (va·ca·tion). It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, vacation means “An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vacation is vacations.

How many letters and syllables are in vacation?

Letters8: V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N
Syllables3: va·ca·tion
In writing25 times per million words; the 3,612th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is vacation?

Vacation appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th 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 vacation?

  • UK /vəˈkeɪ.ʃən/
  • UK /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/
  • US /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/

Vacation has 3 syllables, split va·ca·tion in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vacation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with vacation?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as vacation from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃən/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of vacation

  • vacations plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • vacationing participle, present
  • vacationed participle, past

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

What does vacation mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure.

    We were on vacation in Florida this year.

  2. 2

    An extended period of leisure time away from work or school.

    Schoolchildren are on vacation this week.

  3. 3

    A period during which official activity or business is formally suspended; an official holiday from university, law courts etc.

  4. 4

    The act of vacating something; moving out.

    The Conservative Party’s vacation of the centre ground gave an opportunity to its opponents.

  5. 5

    USThe act of making legally void.

  6. 6

    Freedom from some business or activity.

  7. 7

    obsoleteFree time given over to a specific purpose; occupation, activity.

verb

  1. 1

    To spend or take a vacation.

    This year, we’re vacationing in Mexico.

noun

as VACation
  1. 1

    slangA user's enforced absence from the Steam video-gaming service and its community, as a result of being banned for cheating.

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

How do you abbreviate vacation?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of vacation: vac.

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

Vacation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanUrlaub (trip away from home), Ferien (period of leisure time), Preisgabe (the act of vacating something; moving out of…), Annullierung (the act of making legally void), Urlaub machen, Ferien machen (to spend or take a vacation)
Frenchvacances (period of leisure time), aller en vacances (to spend or take a vacation)
Portugueseférias, vacação, tolerância (period of leisure time), sair de férias (to spend or take a vacation), feriado, féria (official holiday period)
Spanishvacaciones, vacación (period of leisure time), vacacionar (to spend or take a vacation), vacatura (official holiday period)

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 vacation come from?

Inherited from Middle English vacation, vacacion, vacacioun, from Anglo-Norman vacacioun, from Old French vacacion, vacation, from Latin vacātiō. Equivalent to vacate + -ion.

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

What to look up after vacation