quill
/kwɪl/noun, verb
quill is spelled Q-U-I-L-L: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quill means “The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quill is quills.
How many letters and syllables are in quill?
| Letters | 5: Q-U-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,070th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is quill?
Quill appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th 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 quill?
- /kwɪl/
- [kʰw̥ɪl]
Quill 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-quill.wav, En-us-quill.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of quill
- quills plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- quilling participle, present
- quilled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does quill mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The lower shaft of a feather, specifically the region lacking barbs.
- 2
A pen made from a feather.
- 3
Any pen.
He picked up his quill and wrote a poem.
- 4
A sharply pointed, barbed, and easily detached needle-like structure that grows on the skin of a porcupine or hedgehog as a defense against predators.
- 5
A thin piece of bark, especially of cinnamon or cinchona, curled up into a tube.
- 6
The pen of a squid.
- 7
The plectrum with which musicians strike the strings of certain instruments.
- 8
The tube of a musical instrument.
verb
- 1
To pierce with quills. (Usually in the passive voice, as be quilled or get quilled.)
- 2
To write.
- 3
To form fabric into small, rounded folds.
- 4
To decorate with quillwork.
- 5
CanadaUSTo subject (a woman who is giving birth) to the practice of quilling (blowing pepper into her nose to induce or hasten labor).
For quotations using this term, see Citations:quill.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Quill in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | plume , piquant, épine |
| German | Kiel , Stachel , Schreibfeder, Federkiel, Feder , Stift |
| Spanish | cálamo , púa , pluma, péndola |
| Portuguese | pena |
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 quill come from?
From late Middle English quyl, which is first attested in the early 15th century with the meanings "fragment of reed" and "shaft of a feather", probably from Low German and Middle Low German quiele, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to pierce, stick”). Compare Middle High German kil (“large feather, quill”), which is derived from the Low German term.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).