whinge
/(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/
"whinge" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“whinge” is uncommon English (frequency #66,401 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,401
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To whine; to complain, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.
Corpus desk
Index EN-whinge · whinge · English
whinge · rank #66,401 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,401
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH Werth
Nearest frequency peer: Werth (-2 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 “whinge”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- washboard
washboard
33,605 corpus weight
- Washoe
Washoe
33,604 corpus weight
- Werth
Werth
33,602 corpus weight
- whinge
whinge
33,600 corpus weight
- willies
willies
33,594 corpus weight
- windstorm
windstorm
33,593 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “whinge” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | whinge |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #66,401 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “whinge” in English
Rare enough to double-check
whinge is uncommon English at frequency #66,401 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To whine; to complain, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for whinge, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whi… The correct English form is whinge, spelled W-H-I-N-G-E.
Definition
- 1To whine; to complain, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how whinge appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Argh! He has been whinging about it all night, even though he knows there's nothing we can do.
I know it won't help but sometimes it feels better to whinge about the things that annoy me.
Etymology
From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whine, whimper”).
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 "whinge", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).