quisling
/ˈkwɪz.lɪŋ/
"quisling" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“quisling” is uncommon English (frequency #94,159 among 2,880 “Q” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #94,159
- frequency rank, English
- 2,880
- “Q” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A traitor who collaborates with the enemy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | quisling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkwɪz.lɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #94,159 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “quisling” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
quisling is uncommon English at frequency #94,159 among 2,880 “Q” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkwɪz.lɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A traitor who collaborates with the enemy.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for quisling, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Named after Norwegian military officer Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), who ruled the Nazi collaborationist government of Norway during World War Two. From Quislinus, Latinization of Quislin, based on the Danish place name Kvislemark. This term first appeared i… The correct English form is quisling, spelled Q-U-I-S-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1A traitor who collaborates with the enemy.
Etymology
Named after Norwegian military officer Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), who ruled the Nazi collaborationist government of Norway during World War Two. From Quislinus, Latinization of Quislin, based on the Danish place name Kvislemark. This term first appeared in 1940. The surname is seemingly supposed to mean "one who is from Kvislemark", and is equivalent to Kvisle(mark) + -ing (suffix designating a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities). However, the earlier form of the name, Quislinus/Quislin, appears to have been a fanciful coinage based upon Kvisle(mark) + Latin -inus (“suffix indicating a relationship of position, possession, or origin”), and only later on came to be reinterpreted as containing Norwegian -ing (“suffix designating a person of a certain origin or with certain qualities”). Kvislemark is composed of Danish kvissel (“cleft branch”) + mark (compare Danmark). kvissel itself is a derivative of Old Norse kvísl (“fork [as in a 'fork in the road']”), which ultimately comes (by dissimilation) from Proto-Germanic *twīsilō. Cognates include Old English twisla (“confluence, junction, fork of a river or road”) and Old High German zwisila (“forked implement, twig, branch”). Ultimately related to English twistle, twissel, and twizzle. By surface analysis, quisle + -ing.
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
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Using “quisling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Q-U-I-S-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkwɪz.lɪŋ/ (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.