winnow
/ˈwɪnoʊ/
"winnow" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“winnow” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
Corpus desk
Index EN-winnow · winnow · English
winnow · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "W" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | winnow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈwɪnoʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “winnow” in English
Rare enough to double-check
winnow is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈwɪnoʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for winnow in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wyndwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with … The correct English form is winnow, spelled W-I-N-N-O-W.
Definition
- 1To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff.
- 2To separate, sift, analyse, or test by separating items having different values.
- 3To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings.
- 4To move about with a flapping motion, as of wings; to flutter.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how winnow appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[W]ind began to winnow the river delta's dried sediments.
They winnowed the field to twelve.
Etymology
From Middle English wyndwen, from Old English windwian (“to winnow, fan, ventilate”), from Proto-West Germanic *windwōn, from Proto-Germanic *windwōną, *winþijaną (“to throw about, winnow”), from Proto-Indo-European *wē- (“to winnow, thresh”). Cognate with West Frisian wynje (“to winnow”), dialectal Dutch winden, winnen (“to winnow”), Middle High German winden (“to winnow”), Icelandic vinsa (“to pick out, weed”), Latin vannus (“a winnowing basket”). See fan, van.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.