in the twinkling of an eye
"in-the-twinkling-of-an-eye" is a 21-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“in the twinkling of an eye” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 26
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Immediately; instantaneously.
Corpus desk
Index EN-in-the-twinkling-of-an-e · in the twinkling of an eye · English
in the twinkling of an eye · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 26 letters
- VOW-9 9 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | in the twinkling of an eye |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 26 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “in the twinkling of an eye” in English
Rare enough to double-check
in the twinkling of an eye is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Immediately; instantaneously.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for in the twinkling of an eye, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English in the twynklyng of an iȝe, in þe twynklynk of an eiȝe, from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:52: We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The correct English form is in the twinkling of an eye, spelled I-N- -T-H-E- -T-W-I-N-K-L-I-N-G- -O-F- -A-N- -E-Y-E.
Definition
- 1Immediately; instantaneously.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how in the twinkling of an eye appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Father, come, ile take my leaue of the Iew in the twinkling of an eye.
All my dreams for him have been cut short in the twinkling of an eye. Why was my son murdered?
Etymology
From Middle English in the twynklyng of an iȝe, in þe twynklynk of an eiȝe, from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:52: We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.