in the wink of an eye

adv

"in-the-wink-of-an-eye" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“in the wink of an eye” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
21
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - instantaneously, extremely quickly

Corpus desk

Index EN-in-the-wink-of-an-eye · in the wink of an eye · English

in the wink of an eye · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 21 letters
  • VOW-8 8 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.

Key facts for in the wink of an eye
PropertyValue
Headwordin the wink of an eye
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters21
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “in the wink of an eye” in English

in the wink of an eyeranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

in the wink of an eye is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "instantaneously, extremely quickly".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for in the wink of an eye, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is in the wink of an eye, spelled I-N- -T-H-E- -W-I-N-K- -O-F- -A-N- -E-Y-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    instantaneously, extremely quickly

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. "The Silver Shoes," said the Good Witch, "have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."

Synonyms

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "in the wink of an eye"?
"in the wink of an eye" is spelled I-N- -T-H-E- -W-I-N-K- -O-F- -A-N- -E-Y-E.
What does "in the wink of an eye" mean?
As an adverb, "in the wink of an eye" means: instantaneously, extremely quickly
What language does "in the wink of an eye" come from?
"in the wink of an eye" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list