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PlainSpell

wrinkle

wrink·le/ˈɹɪŋkl̩/noun, verb

wrinkle is spelled W-R-I-N-K-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (wrink·le). It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, wrinkle means “A small furrow, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wrinkle is wrinkles.

How many letters and syllables are in wrinkle?

Letters7: W-R-I-N-K-L-E
Syllables2: wrink·le
In writing1.3 times per million words; the 24,745th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 wrinkle?

Wrinkle appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th 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 wrinkle?

  • /ˈɹɪŋkl̩/

Wrinkle has 2 syllables, split wrink·le in writing.

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

What rhymes with wrinkle?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as wrinkle.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: winkler.

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 wrinkle

  • wrinkles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • wrinkling participle, present
  • wrinkled participle, past

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

What does wrinkle mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A small furrow, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface.

  2. 2

    A line or crease in the skin, especially when caused by age or fatigue.

    Spending time out in the sun may cause you to develop wrinkles sooner.

  3. 3

    A fault, imperfection or bug especially in a new system or product; typically, they will need to be ironed out.

    We need to iron out the wrinkles in the plan before implementing it.

  4. 4

    informalA twist on something existing; a novel difference.

    We've added a couple of new wrinkles to the policy.

  5. 5

    USA winkle

verb

  1. 1

    To make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles.

    Be careful not to wrinkle your dress before we arrive.

  2. 2

    To pucker or become uneven or irregular.

    An hour in the tub will cause your fingers to wrinkle.

  3. 3

    To develop irreversibly wrinkles; to age.

    The skin is the substance that wrinkles, shows age, stretches, scars and cuts.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo sneer (at).

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

Wrinkle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaspérité (furrow in a smooth surface), ride (line or crease in the skin), froisser, rider, plisser (to make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles)
GermanFalte (furrow in a smooth surface), Runzel (line or crease in the skin), zerknittern, runzeln, verschrumpeln (to make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles), Problem (fault, imperfection or bug)
Portugueseruga (furrow in a smooth surface), enrugar, amassar (to make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles)
Spanisharruga f ruga, enruga, engurra (furrow in a smooth surface), arruga (line or crease in the skin), arrugar, rugar (to make wrinkles in; to cause to have wrinkles)

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 wrinkle come from?

From Middle English wrinkle, wrynkel (“crease, fold, wrinkle”), from the verb (see below). Cognate with Dutch wrinkel (“wrinkle, crease”). Compare also Middle English runkel (“wrinkle”), from Old Norse hrukka (“wrinkle”), from Proto-Germanic *hrunkwǭ (“wrinkle, crease”), whence also French fronce (“crooked smile, scowl, frown”), German Runzel (“wrinkle”), Danish rynke (“wrinkle”), Swedish rynka and rynkla (“wrinkle”).

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

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