quench
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "quench", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "quench" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "quench" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
quench is aEnglishverb. It means: To satisfy, especially a literal or figurative thirst. Pronounced /kwɛnt͡ʃ/. Often confused with Quincy and quince.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | quench |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kwɛnt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #33,381 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for quench is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kwɛnt͡ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #33,381 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for quench, with forms such as "qeunch", "qquench", and "quecnh". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Quincy", "quince", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English quenchen, from Old English cwenċan, from Proto-Germanic *kwankijaną. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is quench, spelled Q-U-E-N-C-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To satisfy, especially a literal or figurative thirst.
- 2To extinguish or put out (as a fire or light).
- 3To cool rapidly by direct contact with liquid coolant, as a blacksmith quenching hot iron.
- 4To terminate or greatly diminish (a chemical reaction) by destroying or deforming the remaining reagents.
- 5To rapidly change the parameters of a physical system.
- 6To rapidly terminate the operation of a superconducting electromagnet by causing part or all of the magnet's windings to enter the normal, resistive state.
Etymology
From Middle English quenchen, from Old English cwenċan, from Proto-Germanic *kwankijaną.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: qeunch,qquench,quecnh,quencch,quenchh,quenhc,quennch,qunech,uqench
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for quench
Misspelling Variants of "quench"
Frequency rank: #33,381 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter Q in our English index: