coin
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "coin", 4-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 "coin" 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 "coin" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
coin is aEnglishnoun. It means: A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle. Pronounced /kɔɪn/. It ranks #5,201 in English word frequency. Often confused with cop and con.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | coin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɔɪn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #5,201 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for coin is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɔɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,201 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for coin, with forms such as "ccoin", "cion", and "coinn". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cop", "con", "cow", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English coyn, from Old French coigne (“wedge, cornerstone, die for stamping”), from Latin cuneus (“wedge”). Doublet of coign and cuneus. See also quoin (“cornerstone”). Displaced Middle English mynt, from Old English mynet (whence modern English… 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 coin, spelled C-O-I-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
- 2A token used in a special establishment like a casino.
- 3That which serves for payment or recompense.
- 4Something in broad circulation or use.
- 5Money in general, not limited to coins.
- 6One of the suits of minor arcana in tarot, or a card of that suit.
- 7A corner or external angle.
- 8A small circular slice of food.
- 9Ellipsis of cryptocoin; a cryptocurrency.
Etymology
From Middle English coyn, from Old French coigne (“wedge, cornerstone, die for stamping”), from Latin cuneus (“wedge”). Doublet of coign and cuneus. See also quoin (“cornerstone”). Displaced Middle English mynt, from Old English mynet (whence modern English mint), which was derived from Latin monēta.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccoin,cion,coinn,coni,ocin
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for coin
Misspelling Variants of "coin"
Frequency rank: #5,201 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: