cation

\ka.tjɔ̃\

/\ka.tjɔ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“cation” is uncommon French (frequency #61,381 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,381
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ion portant une charge électrique positive.

Corpus desk

Index FR-cation · cation · French

cation · rank #61,381 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,381
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH catégoriques

Nearest frequency peer: catégoriques (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « cation »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « cation » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cation
PropertyValue
Headwordcation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.tjɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#61,381
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « cation » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.cationtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « catégoriques » (#61,382), « caudale » (#61,383), « carpaccio » (#61,378). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « cation » est au #61,381. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cation is uncommon French at frequency #61,381 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.tjɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ion portant une charge électrique positive.".

Zero misspellings are on record for cation in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is cation, spelled C-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ion portant une charge électrique positive.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how cation appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Les anions forment un polyèdre autour de chaque cation ; la distance entre le cation et chaque anion est déterminée par la somme des rayons des deux ions et le nombre de coordination par le rapport des rayons.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cation"?
"cation" is spelled C-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.tjɔ̃\.
What does "cation" mean?
As a noun, "cation" means: Ion portant une charge électrique positive.
How do you pronounce "cation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cation" is \ka.tjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cation" come from?
"cation" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list