English Word Reference Free

vaccine

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "vaccine", 7-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 "vaccine" 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 "vaccine" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

vaccine is anEnglishadj. It means: Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox. Pronounced /vækˈsin/. It ranks #7,188 in English word frequency. Often confused with vaccinate.

Key facts for vaccine
PropertyValue
Headwordvaccine
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/vækˈsin/
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,188
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of vaccine in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for vaccine is 7 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /vækˈsin/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,188 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 3 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 vaccine, with forms such as "avccine", "vaccien", and "vaccinne". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "vaccinate", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: 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: … 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 vaccine, spelled V-A-C-C-I-N-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
  2. 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. 3
    Of, pertaining to, or derived from cattle.

Etymology

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).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: avccine,vaccien,vaccinne,vaccnie,vacicne,vacine,vcacine,vvaccine

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for vaccine

Misspelling Variants of "vaccine"

avccine7vaccien7vaccinne8vaccnie7vacicne7vacine6vcacine7vvaccine8
Misspelling Variants of "vaccine"

Frequency rank: #7,188 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vaccine"?
"vaccine" is spelled V-A-C-C-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /vækˈsin/.
What does "vaccine" mean?
As an adj, "vaccine" means: Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
What words are commonly confused with "vaccine"?
"vaccine" is commonly confused with "vaccinate". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vaccine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vaccine" is /vækˈsin/. 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 "vaccine"?
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 ... 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter V in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.