zinc
/ˈzɪŋk/noun, verb
zinc is spelled Z-I-N-C: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, zinc means “A chemical element (symbol Zn) with an atomic number of 30, a blue-silvery metal that is slightly brittle at room temperature and tarnishes slightly…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of zinc is zincs.
How many letters and syllables are in zinc?
| Letters | 4: Z-I-N-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is zinc?
Zinc appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th 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 zinc?
- /ˈzɪŋk/
- /ˈziŋk/
Zinc has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Tesco250-zinc.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-zinc.wav, En-us-zinc.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with zinc
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of zinc
- zincs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- zincing participle, present
- zinking participle, present
- zincking participle, present
- zinced participle, past
- zinked participle, past
- zincked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does zinc mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A chemical element (symbol Zn) with an atomic number of 30, a blue-silvery metal that is slightly brittle at room temperature and tarnishes slightly in moist air.
- 2
An atom of this element.
- 3
A corrugated iron roof.
- 4
UKcolloquialdatedA zinc countertop.
verb
- 1
rareTo electroplate with zinc.
- 2
rareTo coat with sunblock incorporating zinc oxide.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Zinc in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 zinc come from?
Borrowed from German Zink, related to Zinke (“point, prong”), from Middle High German zinke, from Old High German zinko (“prong, tine”), allied to zint (“a jag, point”), from Proto-Germanic *tindaz (“prong, pinnacle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth, projection”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).