quadrille
/kwɒdˈɹɪl/
"quadrille" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“quadrille” is uncommon English (frequency #88,753 among 2,880 “Q” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,753
- frequency rank, English
- 2,880
- “Q” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A dance originating in the mid-1700s with four couples forming a square, rather much like the modern square dance.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | quadrille |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kwɒdˈɹɪl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #88,753 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “quadrille” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
quadrille is uncommon English at frequency #88,753 among 2,880 “Q” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kwɒdˈɹɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for quadrille, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: French, in sense of “group of knights”, from Spanish cuadrilla, diminutive of cuadra (“square”) (compare also cuadra (“four”)), from Latin quadra. The correct English form is quadrille, spelled Q-U-A-D-R-I-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1A dance originating in the mid-1700s with four couples forming a square, rather much like the modern square dance.
- 2The music for this dance.
- 3A Spanish trick-taking card game from the 1700s played with a 40-card deck.
- 4A choreographed dressage ride, commonly performed to music, with a minimum of four horses.
Etymology
French, in sense of “group of knights”, from Spanish cuadrilla, diminutive of cuadra (“square”) (compare also cuadra (“four”)), from Latin quadra.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “quadrille”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Q-U-A-D-R-I-L-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kwɒdˈɹɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.