Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell nation

hear itna·tion/'neɪʃən/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: A politically organized body of people under government.

In a sentence: Our nation is a big family with lots of people.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as naiton or natoin.

Same family: national, nationally, international, nationalism, nationality. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Nation comes from the Latin word 'natio,' meaning 'birth' or 'people of common origin.' Over time, it shifted from meaning a group of people with common birth or tribe to our modern sense of a politically organized country.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa) · -tion, -sion or -cian?

Try spelling it

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