quinine

/kwɪˈniːn/

//kwɪˈniːn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"quinine" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“quinine” is uncommon English (frequency #51,340 among 288 “Q” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,340
frequency rank, English
288
“Q” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 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...

Corpus desk

Index EN-quinine · quinine · English

quinine · rank #51,340 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,340
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 288
  • PHOTO-FINISH queso

Nearest frequency peer: queso (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “quinine”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “quinine” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for quinine
PropertyValue
Headwordquinine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kwɪˈniːn/
Letters7
Frequency rank#51,340
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “quinine” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).quininefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “queso” (#51,339), “quintus” (#51,341), “quays” (#51,338). Among 288 “Q” headwords, “quinine” is #51,340. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

quinine is uncommon English at frequency #51,340 among 288 “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

  1. 1
    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 presents as a bitter colourless powder; also, a drug containing quinine or a chemical compound derived from it.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how quinine appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The alkali of yellow bark may be distinguished from cinchonine by the name of quinine.
  2. The quinine, being more potent than cinchonine, is generally preferred.

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

quinina(Español)quinine(Français)Chinin(Deutsch)quinino(Português)

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"?
"quinine" is spelled Q-U-I-N-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /kwɪˈniːn/.
What does "quinine" mean?
As a noun, "quinine" means: 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...
How do you pronounce "quinine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quinine" is /kwɪˈniːn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "quinine"?
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 quin... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "quinine", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

quintus#51,341preteen#51,324polenta#51,321rhodium#51,360

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list