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wing

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

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "wing", 4-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 "wing" 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 "wing" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

wing is aEnglishnoun. It means: An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly. Pronounced /wɪŋ/. It ranks #2,471 in English word frequency. Often confused with won and wit.

Key facts for wing
PropertyValue
Headwordwing
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wɪŋ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,471
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for wing is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,471 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 31 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for wing, with forms such as "iwng", "wign", and "wingg". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "won", "wit", "wis", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish,… 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 wing, spelled W-I-N-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.
  2. 2
    A fin at the side of a ray or similar fish.
  3. 3
    Human arm.
  4. 4
    Part of an aircraft that produces the lift for rising into the air.
  5. 5
    One of the large pectoral fins of a flying fish.
  6. 6
    One of the broad, thin, anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod, used as an organ in swimming.
  7. 7
    Any membranaceous expansion, such as that along the sides of certain stems, or one of the bracts on a dragon fruit, or of a fruit of the kind called samara.
  8. 8
    Either of the two side petals of a papilionaceous flower.
  9. 9
    A side shoot of a tree or plant; a branch growing up by the side of another.
  10. 10
    Passage by flying; flight.
  11. 11
    Limb or instrument of flight; means of flight or of rapid motion.
  12. 12
    A part of something that is lesser in size than the main body, and located at the side, such as an extension from the main building.
  13. 13
    One of the longer sides of crownworks or hornworks in fortification.
  14. 14
    Ellipsis of prison wing, a cellblock; or prison or doing time by extension.
  15. 15
    Anything that agitates the air as a wing does, or is put in winglike motion by the action of the air, such as a fan or vane for winnowing grain, the vane or sail of a windmill, the sail of a ship, etc.
  16. 16
    A protruding piece of material on a menstrual pad or diaper to hold it in place and prevent leakage.
  17. 17
    An ornament worn on the shoulder; a small epaulet or shoulder knot.
  18. 18
    A cosmetic effect where eyeliner curves outward and ends at a point.
  19. 19
    A faction of a political movement. Usually implies a position apart from the mainstream center position.
  20. 20
    An organizational grouping in a military aviation service:
  21. 21
    An organizational grouping in a military aviation service:
  22. 22
    A panel of a car which encloses the wheel area, especially the front wheels.
  23. 23
    A platform on either side of the bridge of a vessel, normally found in pairs.
  24. 24
    That part of the hold or orlop of a vessel which is nearest the sides. In a fleet, one of the extremities when the ships are drawn up in line, or when forming the two sides of a triangle.
  25. 25
    A position in several field games on either side of the field.
  26. 26
    A player occupying such a position, also called a winger
  27. 27
    A háček.
  28. 28
    One of the unseen areas on the side of the stage in a theatre.
  29. 29
    The insignia of a qualified pilot or aircrew member.
  30. 30
    A portable shelter consisting of a fabric roof on a frame, like a tent without sides.
  31. 31
    On the enneagram, one of the two adjacent types to an enneatype that forms an individual's subtype of his or her enneatype.

Etymology

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish vinge (“wing”), Elfdalian waingg (“wing”), Faroese vongur (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”), Norwegian Nynorsk veng (“wing”). Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: iwng,wign,wingg,winng,wnig,wwing

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for wing

Misspelling Variants of "wing"

iwng4wign4wingg5winng5wnig4wwing5
Misspelling Variants of "wing"

Frequency rank: #2,471 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wing"?
"wing" is spelled W-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /wɪŋ/.
What does "wing" mean?
As a noun, "wing" means: An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.
What words are commonly confused with "wing"?
"wing" is commonly confused with "won", "wit", "wis". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wing"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wing" is /wɪŋ/. 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 "wing"?
From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate wi... 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 W in our English index:

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