How to spell ocean

hear ito·cean/'oʊʃən/nounSounds

What it means: A large body of salt water covering much of Earth.

In a sentence: The ocean is home to many colorful fish.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as ocen or oacen.

Same family: oceans, oceanic, oceanography, oceanographer. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: The word "ocean" comes from the ancient Greek name "Okeanos," which was the god and personification of the great river believed to encircle the world. Over time, it came to mean the vast body of salt water that covers most of Earth.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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