quoth

/kwəʊθ/

//kwəʊθ// verb

"quoth" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“quoth” is uncommon English (frequency #86,671 among 288 “Q” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,671
frequency rank, English
288
“Q” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - said

Corpus desk

Index EN-quoth · quoth · English

quoth · rank #86,671 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #86,671
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 288
  • PHOTO-FINISH Queensferry

Nearest frequency peer: Queensferry (-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 “quoth”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for quoth
PropertyValue
Headwordquoth
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/kwəʊθ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#86,671
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “quoth” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).quothfalls 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: “Queensferry” (#86,670), “Qamar” (#86,668), “raffia” (#86,674). Among 288 “Q” headwords, “quoth” is #86,671. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

quoth is uncommon English at frequency #86,671 among 288 “Q” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /kwəʊθ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "said".

quoth doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English quoth, quath, from Old English cwæþ (first and third person past indicative of cweþan (“to say, speak to, address, exhort, admonish”)), from Proto-Germanic *kwaþ (first and third person past indicative of Proto-Germanic *kweþaną (“to say… The correct English form is quoth, spelled Q-U-O-T-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    said

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore! / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
  2. “Pull, if ye never pull’d before; / Good ringers, pull your best,” quoth he.

Etymology

From Middle English quoth, quath, from Old English cwæþ (first and third person past indicative of cweþan (“to say, speak to, address, exhort, admonish”)), from Proto-Germanic *kwaþ (first and third person past indicative of Proto-Germanic *kweþaną (“to say”)). Unrelated to quote.

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 "quoth"?
"quoth" is spelled Q-U-O-T-H. The IPA pronunciation is /kwəʊθ/.
What does "quoth" mean?
As a verb, "quoth" means: said
How do you pronounce "quoth"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quoth" is /kwəʊθ/. 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 "quoth"?
From Middle English quoth, quath, from Old English cwæþ (first and third person past indicative of cweþan (“to say, speak to, address, exhort, admonish”)), from Proto-Germanic *kwaþ (first and third person past indicative of Proto-Germanic *kweþan... 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 "quoth", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list