sinewy
/ˈsɪnjuːi/
"sinewy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sinewy” is uncommon English (frequency #87,830 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,830
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tough; having strong sinews.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sinewy · sinewy · English
sinewy · rank #87,830 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #87,830
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH silverfish
Nearest frequency peer: silverfish (-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 “sinewy”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- sildenafil
sildenafil
12,174 corpus weight
- silverfish
silverfish
12,172 corpus weight
- sinewy
sinewy
12,171 corpus weight
- Singhal
Singhal
12,170 corpus weight
- Skeffington
Skeffington
12,167 corpus weight
- skene
skene
12,166 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sinewy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sinewy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsɪnjuːi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #87,830 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sinewy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sinewy is uncommon English at frequency #87,830 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈsɪnjuːi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for sinewy in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English synwy, synewy, synowy (“tendonous”); equivalent to sinew + -y. The correct English form is sinewy, spelled S-I-N-E-W-Y.
Definition
- 1Tough; having strong sinews.
- 2Having or showing nervous strength.
- 3Possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sinewy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]
His right hand (which seemed to me somewhat hairy and sinewy, a sign of great strength in its owner) lay on the side of his heart; […]
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English synwy, synewy, synowy (“tendonous”); equivalent to sinew + -y.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sinewy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).