crinkly

adj

"crinkly" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“crinkly” is uncommon English (frequency #94,723 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#94,723
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That crinkles.

Corpus desk

Index EN-crinkly · crinkly · English

crinkly · rank #94,723 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #94,723
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH crewneck

Nearest frequency peer: crewneck (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Long-tail ranks near “crinkly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “crinkly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for crinkly
PropertyValue
Headwordcrinkly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters7
Frequency rank#94,723
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “crinkly” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).crinklyfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “crewneck” (#94,722), “crosscheck” (#94,725), “Crapo” (#94,720). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “crinkly” is #94,723. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

crinkly is uncommon English at frequency #94,723 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for crinkly, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From crinkle + -y. The correct English form is crinkly, spelled C-R-I-N-K-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    That crinkles.
  2. 2
    Having crinkles; wrinkly.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Again there was that eerie, indefinable something in Cousin Jimmy’s voice or look that gave Emily a sudden crinkly feeling in her spine.
  2. Himself, he was a little as if made from leather, with his yellow crinkly face, and crinkly reddish hair and beard; and neat folds slanting down his cheeks to the corners of his mouth, and his guttural and one-toned voice;[…]

Etymology

From crinkle + -y.

Synonyms

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "crinkly"?
"crinkly" is spelled C-R-I-N-K-L-Y.
What does "crinkly" mean?
As an adjective, "crinkly" means: That crinkles.
What is the origin of the word "crinkly"?
From crinkle + -y. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list