vaccine
vac·cine/vækˈsin/adjective, noun
vaccine is spelled V-A-C-C-I-N-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (vac·cine). It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, vaccine means “Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in vaccine?
| Letters | 7: V-A-C-C-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: vac·cine |
| In writing | 10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is vaccine?
Vaccine appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce vaccine?
- US /vækˈsin/
- US /ˈvækˌsin/
Vaccine has 2 syllables, split vac·cine in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vaccine.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with vaccine?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as vaccine from its last stressed vowel (/in/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of vaccine
- vaccines plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- vaccining participle, present
- vaccined participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does vaccine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
- 2
Of or pertaining to cowpox as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox; also, of or pertaining to such material used for vaccination.
- 3
archaicOf, pertaining to, or derived from cattle.
noun
- 1
A substance given to stimulate a body's production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease without causing the disease itself in the treatment, prepared from the agent that causes the disease (or a derivative of it; or a related, also effective, but safer disease), or a synthetic substitute; also, a dose of such a substance.
- 2
The process of vaccination; immunization, inoculation.
My dog has had two vaccines this year.
- 3
The material taken from cowpox pustules used for vaccination against smallpox.
- 4
obsoleteThe disease cowpox, especially as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox.
- 5
Something defensive or protective in nature, like a vaccine (sense 1.1).
- 6
A software program which protects computers against, or detects and neutralizes, computer viruses and other types of malware; an antivirus.
verb
- 1
archaicSynonym of vaccinate (“to treat (a person or an animal) with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate vaccine?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of vaccine: vac, vacc, vax.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Vaccine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | vacínico , vacina |
| French | vaccin |
| German | Vakzin, Vakzine, Impfstoff |
| Spanish | vacuna, linfa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does vaccine come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against smallpox: see New Latin variolae vaccīnae (“cowpox”, plural, literally “infectious diseases of cattle causing pustules”), coined by the British physician and scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).