detinue
noun
detinue is spelled D-E-T-I-N-U-E: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 85 million words in written English, the 293,966th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, detinue means “A person or thing detained; a detainee” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of detinue is detinues.
How many letters and syllables are in detinue?
| Letters | 7: D-E-T-I-N-U-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 85 million words; the 293,966th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is detinue?
Detinue appears about once in every 85 million words in written English, the 293,966th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of detinue
- detinues plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does detinue mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person or thing detained; a detainee.
- 2
A legal action to reclaim goods wrongfully detained.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does detinue come from?
From late Middle English detenue, from Old French detenue, feminine singular past participle of detenir (“to detain”). See detain.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).