extinguish
/ɪkˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/verb
extinguish is spelled E-X-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, extinguish means “To stop (fire, etc.) from burning; also, to stop (light, etc.) from shining; to put out, to quench” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in extinguish?
| Letters | 10: E-X-T-I-N-G-U-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is extinguish?
Extinguish appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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).
How do you pronounce extinguish?
- /ɪkˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/
Extinguish has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-extinguish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of extinguish
- extinguishes present, singular, he/she/it
- extinguishing participle, present
- extinguished participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does extinguish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To stop (fire, etc.) from burning; also, to stop (light, etc.) from shining; to put out, to quench.
- 2
To eclipse or obscure (someone or something).
A beauty that extinguishes all others by comparison
- 3
To kill (someone).
- 4
To put an end to (something) completely; to annihilate, to destroy.
She extinguished all my hopes.
- 5
To bring about the extinction of (a conditioned reflex).
Many patients can extinguish their phobias after a few months of treatment.
- 6
To suppress (something, as feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.); to quench.
- 7
To abolish or make void (a law, a legal right, etc.); also, to cancel (a creditor's claim, a licence, etc.).
- 8
To die out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Extinguish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | éteindre |
| German | löschen , auslöschen , abschalten |
| Portuguese | extinguir, apagar |
| Spanish | extinguir, apagar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does extinguish come from?
Borrowed from Latin extinguo (“to put out (what is burning), quench, extinguish, deprive of life, destroy, abolish”), from ex (“out”) + stinguere (“to put out, quench, extinguish”). Doublet of extinct.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).