quinsy
/ˈkwɪnzi/noun
quinsy is spelled Q-U-I-N-S-Y: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, quinsy means “A peritonsillar abscess; a painful pus-filled inflammation or abscess of the tonsils and surrounding tissues, usually a complication of tonsillitis…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of quinsy is quinsies.
How many letters and syllables are in quinsy?
| Letters | 6: Q-U-I-N-S-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 59 million words; the 240,237th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is quinsy?
Quinsy appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th 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 quinsy?
- /ˈkwɪnzi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-quinsy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of quinsy
- quinsies plural
- quinsey
- quinzy
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does quinsy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A peritonsillar abscess; a painful pus-filled inflammation or abscess of the tonsils and surrounding tissues, usually a complication of tonsillitis, caused by bacterial infection and often accompanied by fever.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does quinsy come from?
From Middle English quinesye, from Old French quinencie, from Medieval Latin quinancia, from Ancient Greek κυνάγχη (kunánkhē, “canine quinsy”), from κύων (kúōn, “dog”) + ἄγχω (ánkhō, “throttle”). Doublet of cynanche.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).