sain
/seɪn/
"sain" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sain” is uncommon English (frequency #80,840 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #80,840
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make the sign of the cross on or over something or someone.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /seɪn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #80,840 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sain” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sain is uncommon English at frequency #80,840 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /seɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for sain, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sainen, seinen, senen, sinen, signen, from Old English sēnian, seġnian, from Proto-Germanic *segnōną (“to mark with a cross, bless”), from Latin signō, from signum. Cognate with Dutch zegenen (“to bless”), German segnen (“to bless”), Iri… The correct English form is sain, spelled S-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1To make the sign of the cross on or over something or someone.
- 2To make the sign of the cross.
- 3To bless, to keep from evil influence.
Etymology
From Middle English sainen, seinen, senen, sinen, signen, from Old English sēnian, seġnian, from Proto-Germanic *segnōną (“to mark with a cross, bless”), from Latin signō, from signum. Cognate with Dutch zegenen (“to bless”), German segnen (“to bless”), Irish séan (“sign, omen”) and Scottish Gaelic seun (“a charm”).
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 “sain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /seɪn/ (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.