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vein

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

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "vein", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "vein" 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 "vein" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

vein is aEnglishnoun. It means: A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart. Pronounced /veɪn/. Often confused with vi and VN.

Key facts for vein
PropertyValue
Headwordvein
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/veɪn/
Letters4
Frequency rank#10,148
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for vein is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /veɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,148 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for vein, with forms such as "evin", "veinn", and "veni". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vi", "VN", "via", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English veyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna (“a blood-vessel; vein; artery”) of uncertain origin. See vēna for more. Doublet of vena. Displaced native edre, from ǣdre (whence edder). 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 vein, spelled V-E-I-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart.
  2. 2
    The entrails of a shrimp.
  3. 3
    In leaves, a thickened portion of the leaf containing the vascular bundle.
  4. 4
    The nervure of an insect’s wing.
  5. 5
    A stripe or streak of a different colour or composition in materials such as wood, cheese, marble or other rocks.
  6. 6
    A sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock.
  7. 7
    A topic of discussion; a train of association, thoughts, emotions, etc.
  8. 8
    A style, tendency, or quality.
  9. 9
    A fissure, cleft, or cavity, as in the earth or other substance.

Etymology

From Middle English veyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna (“a blood-vessel; vein; artery”) of uncertain origin. See vēna for more. Doublet of vena. Displaced native edre, from ǣdre (whence edder).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: evin,veinn,veni,vien,vvein

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for vein

Misspelling Variants of "vein"

evin4veinn5veni4vien4vvein5
Misspelling Variants of "vein"

Frequency rank: #10,148 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vein"?
"vein" is spelled V-E-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is /veɪn/.
What does "vein" mean?
As a noun, "vein" means: A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart.
What words are commonly confused with "vein"?
"vein" is commonly confused with "vi", "VN", "via". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vein"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vein" is /veɪn/. 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 "vein"?
From Middle English veyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna (“a blood-vessel; vein; artery”) of uncertain origin. See vēna for more. Doublet of vena. Displaced native edre, from ǣdre (whence edder). 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:

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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.