kina

noun

"kina" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“kina” is uncommon English (frequency #70,002 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,002
frequency rank, English
9,255
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The national currency of Papua New Guinea, divided into 100 toea.

Key facts for kina
PropertyValue
Headwordkina
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#70,002
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “kina” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). kina lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kina is uncommon English at frequency #70,002 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The national currency of Papua New Guinea, divided into 100 toea.".

kina doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Tolai kina (“oyster or clamshell”). The correct English form is kina, spelled K-I-N-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    The national currency of Papua New Guinea, divided into 100 toea.

Etymology

From Tolai kina (“oyster or clamshell”).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "kina"?
"kina" is spelled K-I-N-A.
What does "kina" mean?
As a noun, "kina" means: The national currency of Papua New Guinea, divided into 100 toea.
What is the origin of the word "kina"?
From Tolai kina (“oyster or clamshell”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Using “kina”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is K-I-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list