whiten

/ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən/

//ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"whiten" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“whiten” is uncommon English (frequency #59,122 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,122
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (To cause) to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch.

Corpus desk

Index EN-whiten · whiten · English

whiten · rank #59,122 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,122
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH whisking

Nearest frequency peer: whisking (-1 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 “whiten”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “whiten” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for whiten
PropertyValue
Headwordwhiten
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən/
Letters6
Frequency rank#59,122
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “whiten” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).whitenfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “whisking” (#59,121), “Wilf” (#59,124), “wilting” (#59,125). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “whiten” is #59,122. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

whiten is uncommon English at frequency #59,122 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

whiten doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English whitenen, whitnen, from Old Norse hvítna (“to whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *hwītnōną (“to whiten, become white”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwind-, *kwint- (“bright”), equivalent to white + -en. Cognate with Icelandic hvítna (“to whiten… The correct English form is whiten, spelled W-H-I-T-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    (To cause) to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch.
  2. 2
    To increase the security of an iterated block cipher by steps that combine the data with portions of the key.
  3. 3
    To normalize data so that the covariance matrix becomes the identity matrix; i.e., to remove correlations so each variable has unit variance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how whiten appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Age had whitened his hair.
  2. The trees in spring whiten with blossoms.

Etymology

From Middle English whitenen, whitnen, from Old Norse hvítna (“to whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *hwītnōną (“to whiten, become white”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwind-, *kwint- (“bright”), equivalent to white + -en. Cognate with Icelandic hvítna (“to whiten”), Swedish vitna, hvitna (“to whiten”), Danish hvidne (“to whiten”). Compare Old English hwītian (“to whiten, become white, be white, make white”).

This word in other languages

blanquear(Español)blanchir(Français)weißen(Deutsch)branquear(Português)

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

How do you spell "whiten"?
"whiten" is spelled W-H-I-T-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən/.
What does "whiten" mean?
As a verb, "whiten" means: (To cause) to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch.
How do you pronounce "whiten"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "whiten" is /ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən/. 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 "whiten"?
From Middle English whitenen, whitnen, from Old Norse hvítna (“to whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *hwītnōną (“to whiten, become white”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwind-, *kwint- (“bright”), equivalent to white + -en. Cognate with Icelandic hvítna (... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "whiten", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wolfie#59,126yippee#59,134your's#59,135Verges#59,104

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list