quince
/kwɪns/noun
quince is spelled Q-U-I-N-C-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quince means “The pear-shaped fruit of a small tree of the rose family, Cydonia oblonga” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quince is quinces.
How many letters and syllables are in quince?
| Letters | 6: Q-U-I-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,504th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is quince?
Quince appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,504th 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 quince?
- /kwɪns/
As a noun (“Clipping of quinceañera”): /ˈkiːnseɪ/, /ˈkɪnseɪ/.
Quince 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)-Vealhurl-quince.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Knabrupt-quince_(color).wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Knabrupt-quince_(quinceañera).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with quince?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as quince.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: cinque.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of quince
- quinces plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does quince mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The pear-shaped fruit of a small tree of the rose family, Cydonia oblonga.
- 2
The deciduous tree bearing such fruit, native to Asia.
- 3
A soft yellow colour, like that of a quince.
- 4
informalClipping of quinceañera.
quince dress
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Quince in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | coing , cognassier |
| German | Quitte , Quittenbaum |
| Portuguese | marmelo , marmeleiro |
| Spanish | membrillo , membrillero |
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 quince come from?
From Middle English quynce, coince, a variant of coins, coin (“quince”), from Old French cooing (modern coing), from Late Latin cotōneum, from Latin mālum cotōneum, a variant of mālum Cydonium (“Cydonian apple”), translating Ancient Greek μηλοκυδώνιον (mēlokudṓnion).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).