quince

From Middle English quynce, coince, a variant of coins, coin (“quince”), from Old French cooing (modern coing), from Late Latin cotōneum, from Latin mālum cotōneum, a variant of mālum Cydonium (“Cydonian apple”), translating Ancient Greek μηλοκυδώνιον (mēlokudṓnion).

• IPA^(key): /kwɪns/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ɪns

quince (countable and uncountable, plural quinces)

1. (countable) The pear-shaped fruit of a small tree of the rose family, Cydonia oblonga.
2. (countable) The deciduous tree bearing such fruit, native to Asia.
3. A soft yellow colour, like that of a quince.

   quince:  

• fruit
• pome

• → Thai: ควินซ์ (kwíns)

Clipping of quinceañera.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkiːnseɪ/, /ˈkɪnseɪ/

• Audio (General American):

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quince (plural quinces)

1. (informal) Clipping of quinceañera.

   quince dress

   • 2018 March 1, David Montgomery, “Why mariachi music matters in the age of Trump”, in The Washington Post‎^[1]:

     She dances with her father. She leans her head on the shoulder of her mother, thanking her for the surprise gift of this mariachi performance, which she had first dreamed of for her quince when she was a little girl.

   • 2019 October 24, Cat Cardenas, “How Teenagers Are Using Their Quinceañeras to Boost the Latinx Vote in Texas”, in Texas Monthly‎^[2]:

     These days many young Latinxs have chosen to sport trendier dresses rather than ball gowns, combine quince traditions with a sweet sixteen party, or even go on a quince cruise.

   • 2019 November 12, Walter Thompson-Hernández, “The Quinceañera, Redefined”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     It is now more common to see quinces as celebrations of identity, including for queer and transgender individuals, and quinces that honor more than the transition to adulthood.

• Cinque, cinque

From Latin quīndecim.

quince (indeclinable)

1. fifteen

• quincenu

From Old Galician-Portuguese quinze, from Latin quīndecim.

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: quin‧ce

quince (indeclinable)

1. fifteen

quince

1. alternative form of quynce (“quince”)

• quinze (obsolete)

Inherited from Old Spanish quinze, quindze, from Latin quīndecim.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkinθe/ [ˈkĩn̟.θe] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /ˈkinse/ [ˈkĩn.se] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -inθe (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• Rhymes: -inse (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: quin‧ce

quince

1. fifteen

• → Cebuano: kinse
• → Tagalog: kinse

• “quince”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025