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PlainSpell

inch

/ɪnt͡ʃ/noun, verb, adjective

inch is spelled I-N-C-H: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, inch means “An English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of inch is inches.

How many letters and syllables are in inch?

Letters4: I-N-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing31 times per million words; the 3,052nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is inch?

Inch appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd 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 inch?

  • /ɪnt͡ʃ/

Inch has one syllable (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-inch.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-inch.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with inch?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as inch.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: chin.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of inch

  • inches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • in
  • in.
  • ″
  • inching participle, present
  • inched participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does inch mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm.

    One rule of thumb is that the width of an adult thumb can approximate a length of one inch.

  2. 2

    Any very short distance.

    Don't move an inch!

  3. 3

    Any of various similar units of length in other traditional systems of measurement.

    At the time of Augustus, the Roman inch was standardized at a length about 3% shorter than the modern English one.

  4. 4

    A depth of one inch on the ground, used as a measurement of rainfall.

    Expect around 2 inches of rain on Saturday afternoon.

  5. 5

    A depth of one inch in a glass, used as a rough measurement of alcoholic beverages.

    My partner only drinks about a 1 inch pour with dinner, leaving the rest of the bottle for me.

  6. 6

    IrelandScotlandA small island; an islet.

  7. 7

    IrelandScotlandA meadow, pasture, field, or haugh.

verb

  1. 1

    To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).

    Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.

  2. 2

    To drive by inches, or small degrees.

  3. 3

    To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.

  4. 4

    colloquialto burn (to insult); to speak in a cocky and cheeky manner

adjective

  1. 1

    colloquialcocky and cheeky

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate inch?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of inch: in, in..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Inch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpouce (English unit of length and traditional…), poil (unspecified but very short distance)
GermanZoll (English unit of length and traditional…), sich zentimeterweise fortbewegen (to move very slowly)
Portuguesepolegada (English unit of length and traditional…)
Spanishpulgada (English unit of length and traditional…)

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 inch come from?

From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynċe, borrowed from Latin ū̆ncia (“Roman inch, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of ounce, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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