zinfandel
/ˈzɪnfn̩dɛl/
"zinfandel" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“zinfandel” is uncommon English (frequency #78,304 among 2,810 “Z” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,304
- frequency rank, English
- 2,810
- “Z” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A dry red wine of California.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | zinfandel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈzɪnfn̩dɛl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #78,304 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “zinfandel” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
zinfandel is uncommon English at frequency #78,304 among 2,810 “Z” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈzɪnfn̩dɛl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for zinfandel in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown origin; wine sense used from 1896, grape sense from 1880. Possibly a transmission of German Zierfandler, a different wine grape, through a Hungarian intermediary such as czirifandli (now Cirfandli). The correct English form is zinfandel, spelled Z-I-N-F-A-N-D-E-L.
Definition
- 1A dry red wine of California.
- 2A small black grape from which zinfandel wine is made.
Etymology
Unknown origin; wine sense used from 1896, grape sense from 1880. Possibly a transmission of German Zierfandler, a different wine grape, through a Hungarian intermediary such as czirifandli (now Cirfandli).
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
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Using “zinfandel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Z-I-N-F-A-N-D-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈzɪnfn̩dɛl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.