ginkgo
/ˈɡɪŋ.kəʊ/noun
ginkgo is spelled G-I-N-K-G-O: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ginkgo means “Any trees native to China with small, fan-shaped leaves and edible seeds” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ginkgo is ginkgos or ginkgoes.
How many letters and syllables are in ginkgo?
| Letters | 6: G-I-N-K-G-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 60,074th 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 ginkgo?
Ginkgo appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th 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 ginkgo?
- UK /ˈɡɪŋ.kəʊ/
Ginkgo has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ginkgo.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-ginkgo.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ginkgo
- ginkgos plural
- ginkgoes plural
- gingko
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ginkgo mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any trees native to China with small, fan-shaped leaves and edible seeds.
- 2
The seed of a ginkgo tree.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ginkgo in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ginkgo, gingko , noix de ginkgo, noix de gingko |
| German | Ginkgo, Ginko, Ginkgobaum, Ginkobaum, Ginkjo, Mädchenhaarbaum |
| Portuguese | ginkgo |
| Spanish | ginkgo |
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 ginkgo come from?
From Japanese 銀杏 (ginkyō), from Chinese 銀杏／银杏 (yínxìng, “silver apricot”). Ginkgo is the name that is printed in Amoenitatum exoticarum politico-physico-medicarum Fasciculi V … (1712) authored by Engelbert Kaempfer, the first Westerner to see the species. In his way of transcription ginkyo would have been Ginkjo or Ginkio but was printed as Ginkgo. This was read by Carl Linnaeus, and the misspelling stuck.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).