washington
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
10 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "washington", 10-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 "washington" 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 "washington" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
Washington is aEnglishname. It means: A state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Capital: Olympia. Largest city: Seattle. Pronounced /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/. It ranks #892 in English word frequency. Often confused with Warrington.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Washington |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Name |
| IPA | /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #892 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Washington is 10 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/. Corpus data places it at rank #892 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 52 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 16 documented wrong-spelling variants for Washington, with forms such as "awshington", "wahsington", and "washhington". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Warrington", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Washington (the town in Tyne and Wear, northeast England): probably from the Old English place name Hwæssingatūn (literally “a settlement of the household of *Hwæssa”), from *Hwæssa (a Saxon chieftain's name) + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“homestead, settl… 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 Washington, spelled W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Capital: Olympia. Largest city: Seattle.
- 2Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States).
- 3Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States).
- 4An English habitational surname from Old English.
- 5An English habitational surname from Old English.
- 6The federal government or administrative authority of the United States. From the capital city of Washington, D.C.
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- 51A male given name transferred from the surname, popular during the first century of American independence, given in honor of George Washington.
- 52Ellipsis of University of Washington.
Etymology
Washington (the town in Tyne and Wear, northeast England): probably from the Old English place name Hwæssingatūn (literally “a settlement of the household of *Hwæssa”), from *Hwæssa (a Saxon chieftain's name) + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“homestead, settlement”). It was attested in 1096 as Wasindone. Hwæssa is of uncertain origin, said to possibly correspond to waþ (“hunt”) + sige (“victory”), or possibly related to hwæte (“wheat”). There are other theories; more on Wikipedia. The surname derives from the town, and most places in the United States are named for George Washington.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awshington,wahsington,washhington,washignton,washinggton,washingotn,washingtno,washingtonn,washingtton,washinngton,washintgon,washnigton,wasihngton,wasshington,wsahington,wwashington
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Washington
Misspelling Variants of "Washington"
Frequency rank: #892 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index: