whinge
/(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/
"whinge" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“whinge” is an uncommon English word, ranked #66,401 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #66,401
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To whine; to complain, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.
| 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) |
Where “whinge” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for whinge is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/. Corpus data places it at rank #66,401 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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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Using “whinge”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-H-I-N-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.