stint
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "stint", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "stint" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "stint" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
stint is aEnglishverb. It means: To stop (an action); cease, desist. Pronounced /stɪnt/. Often confused with suit and stir.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stint |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /stɪnt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stint is 5 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɪnt/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,867 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for stint, with forms such as "sitnt", "sstint", and "stinnt". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "suit", "stir", "stun", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stinten, from Old English styntan (“to make blunt”) and *stintan (attested in āstintan (“to make dull, stint, assuage”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stuntijan, from Proto-Germanic *stuntijaną and Proto-Germanic *stintaną (“to make short”)… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is stint, spelled S-T-I-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To stop (an action); cease, desist.
- 2To stop speaking or talking (of a subject).
- 3To be sparing or mean.
- 4To restrain within certain limits; to bound; to restrict to a scant allowance.
- 5To assign a certain task to (a person), upon the performance of which he/she is excused from further labour for that day or period; to stent.
- 6To impregnate successfully; to get with foal.
Etymology
From Middle English stinten, from Old English styntan (“to make blunt”) and *stintan (attested in āstintan (“to make dull, stint, assuage”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stuntijan, from Proto-Germanic *stuntijaną and Proto-Germanic *stintaną (“to make short”), probably influenced in some senses by cognate Old Norse *stynta, stytta (“to make short, shorten”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sitnt,sstint,stinnt,stintt,stitn,stnit,sttint,tsint
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for stint
Misspelling Variants of "stint"
Frequency rank: #12,867 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: