spinnaker

/ˈspɪnəkə/US/ˈspɪnəkɚ/

spinnaker noun: a sail supplemental to the mainsail, especially a triangular one, used on yachts for running before the wind.

Noun

spinnaker (plural spinnakers)

A sail supplemental to the mainsail, especially a triangular one, used on yachts for running before the wind.

Synonyms:

spinney

spinnaker (third-person singular simple present spinnakers, present participle spinnakering, simple past and past participle spinnakered)

To sail using a spinnaker
- On the port tack layline , you're defenseless against starboard tackers — you have to dip them , no matter how much you may lose doing it — and the wind shadow of boats spinnakering away from the mark can cost you plenty.1995, Tom Linskey, Race Winning Strategies
- We spinnakered out into the Atlantic and, fortunately, the wind died as night fell.2010, Pete Goss, Close to the Wind

Noun
plural	spinnakers
Verb
third-person singular present	spinnakers
present participle	spinnakering
past participle	spinnakered
past	spinnakered

What does spinnaker mean?: Spinnaker means a sail supplemental to the mainsail, especially a triangular one, used on yachts for running before the wind.
What part of speech is spinnaker?: Spinnaker can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce spinnaker?: Spinnaker is pronounced /ˈspɪnəkə/ (UK).
What is the plural of spinnaker?: The plural of spinnaker is spinnakers.

Adapted from Wiktionary: spinnaker (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-spinnaker.wav.

Cite this entry: “spinnaker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spinnaker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.