quickening

noun

"quickening" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“quickening” is uncommon English (frequency #57,654 among 2,880 “Q” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,654
frequency rank, English
2,880
“Q” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An increase of speed.

Key facts for quickening
PropertyValue
Headwordquickening
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#57,654
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “quickening” 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). quickening 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

quickening is uncommon English at frequency #57,654 among 2,880 “Q” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for quickening, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is quickening, spelled Q-U-I-C-K-E-N-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    An increase of speed.
  2. 2
    The action of bringing someone or something to life.
  3. 3
    The first noticeable movements of a foetus during pregnancy, or the period when this occurs.
  4. 4
    Stimulation, excitement (of a feeling, emotion etc.).

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 "quickening"?
"quickening" is spelled Q-U-I-C-K-E-N-I-N-G.
What does "quickening" mean?
As a noun, "quickening" means: An increase of speed.
What language does "quickening" come from?
"quickening" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “quickening”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is Q-U-I-C-K-E-N-I-N-G - 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