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PlainSpell

wing

/wɪŋ/noun, verb

wing is spelled W-I-N-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 41 times per million words in written English, the 2,438th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, wing means “An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wing is wings.

How many letters and syllables are in wing?

Letters4: W-I-N-G
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing41 times per million words; the 2,438th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is wing?

Wing appears 41 times per million words in written English, the 2,438th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce wing?

  • US /wɪŋ/
  • /ˈwɪŋɡ/

Wing has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wing.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-wing.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with wing?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as wing from its last stressed vowel (/ɪŋ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of wing

  • wings plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • winging participle, present
  • winged participle, past
  • wung participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does wing mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.

    The bird was flapping its wings

  2. 2

    A fin at the side of a ray or similar fish.

  3. 3

    slangHuman arm.

  4. 4

    Part of an aircraft that produces the lift for rising into the air.

    I took my seat on the plane, overlooking the wing.

  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.

verb

  1. 1

    To injure slightly (as with a gunshot), especially in the wing or arm.

  2. 2

    To fly.

  3. 3

    To travel swiftly.

  4. 4

    To add a wing (extra part) to.

  5. 5

    To act or speak extemporaneously; to improvise; to wing it.

    I lost all my notes I'd made, so was partially winging the meeting.

  6. 6

    To throw.

  7. 7

    To furnish with wings.

  8. 8

    To transport with, or as if with, wings; to bear in flight, or speedily.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Wing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaile (part of an animal), improviser (to be extemporaneous)
GermanFlügel, Schwinge, Fëcke, Fattig (part of an animal), improvisieren (to be extemporaneous)
Portugueseasa (part of an animal), improvisar (to be extemporaneous), ala (extension to a main body), ferir (no braço) (to injure slightly)
Spanish[el] ala (part of an animal), improvisar (to be extemporaneous), sección, parte (extension to a main body), ala (part of an aircraft)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does wing come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after wing