wino

/ˈwaɪnəʊ/

//ˈwaɪnəʊ// noun

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

"wino" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“wino” is uncommon English (frequency #87,993 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#87,993
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A chronic or heavy drinker of cheap wine or other alcohol; especially, a drunkard.

Corpus desk

Index EN-wino · wino · English

wino · rank #87,993 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #87,993
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH Windies

Nearest frequency peer: Windies (-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 “wino”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for wino
PropertyValue
Headwordwino
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈwaɪnəʊ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#87,993
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “wino” 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).winofalls in this rarity band:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Windies” (#87,992), “Withington” (#87,994), “womankind” (#87,998). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “wino” is #87,993. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wino is uncommon English at frequency #87,993 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwaɪnəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for wino in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From wine + -o (“person with characteristic”). The correct English form is wino, spelled W-I-N-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    A chronic or heavy drinker of cheap wine or other alcohol; especially, a drunkard.
  2. 2
    A chronic or heavy drinker of cheap wine or other alcohol; especially, a drunkard.
  3. 3
    A wine enthusiast.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. My grandmother was a Puerto Rican wino from Spanish Harlem named Migdalia, but everybody called her Mimi. My moms and Aunt Dru were her only kids. Mimi was a tall, light-skinned woman with long wavy hair and high cheekbones. She drank cheap wine and laughed all day long.
  2. Near-synonyms: bum, hobo; see also Thesaurus:vagabond

Etymology

From wine + -o (“person with characteristic”).

This word in other languages

catavinos(Español)sac à vin(Français)Alki(Deutsch)

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 "wino"?
"wino" is spelled W-I-N-O. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈwaɪnəʊ/.
What does "wino" mean?
As a noun, "wino" means: A chronic or heavy drinker of cheap wine or other alcohol; especially, a drunkard.
How do you pronounce "wino"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wino" is /ˈwaɪnəʊ/. 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 "wino"?
From wine + -o (“person with characteristic”). 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 "wino", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

YABA#88,004Yeoh#88,005adat#88,030Amoy#88,050

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list