quinine
/kwɪˈniːn/
"quinine" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“quinine” is uncommon English (frequency #51,340 among 2,880 “Q” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,340
- frequency rank, English
- 2,880
- “Q” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An alkaloid with the chemical formula C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂, originally derived from cinchona bark (from plants of the genus Cinchona), used to treat malaria and as an ingredient of tonic water, which present...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | quinine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kwɪˈniːn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #51,340 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “quinine” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
quinine is uncommon English at frequency #51,340 among 2,880 “Q” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kwɪˈniːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An alkaloid with the chemical formula C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂, originally derived from cinchona bark (from plants of the genus Cinchona), used to treat malaria and as an ingredient of tonic water, which present...".
No misspelling variants are generated for quinine in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is either: * derived from Spanish quina (“quinine”) (a clipping of quinaquina (“Cinchona bark”)) + English -ine (suffix forming names of chemical substances, especially (among others) alkaloidal substances); or * borrowed from French quinine, from … The correct English form is quinine, spelled Q-U-I-N-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1An alkaloid with the chemical formula C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂, originally derived from cinchona bark (from plants of the genus Cinchona), used to treat malaria and as an ingredient of tonic water, which presents as a bitter colourless powder; also, a drug containing quinine or a chemical compound derived from it.
Etymology
The noun is either: * derived from Spanish quina (“quinine”) (a clipping of quinaquina (“Cinchona bark”)) + English -ine (suffix forming names of chemical substances, especially (among others) alkaloidal substances); or * borrowed from French quinine, from quin(quina) (“Cinchona bark”) + -ine (feminine form of -in (suffix forming nouns)). Spanish quinaquina and French quinquina are both derived from Quechua kina-kina, a reduplication of kina (“bark; (specifically) Cinchona bark”). The verb is derived from the noun.
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
How do you spell "quinine"?
What does "quinine" mean?
How do you pronounce "quinine"?
What is the origin of the word "quinine"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “quinine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Q-U-I-N-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kwɪˈniːn/ (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.