Hard copy or hardcopy?
hard copy is a noun meaning “A printed copy of a digital document, as opposed to a copy in electronic form”; hardcopy is a noun meaning “Alternative form of hard copy”. hard copy is written as two words and hardcopy as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between hard copy and hardcopy?
| hard copy | hardcopy | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | A printed copy of a digital document, as opposed to a copy in electronic form | Alternative form of hard copy |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | none | hardcopies |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 9 million words |
Sources: hard copy and hardcopy in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of hard copy and hardcopy
hard copy
- 1
A printed copy of a digital document, as opposed to a copy in electronic form
hardcopy
- 1
Alternative form of hard copy
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, hard copy or hardcopy?
hard copy is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; hardcopy about once in every 9 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search hard copy vs hardcopy?
“hard copy vs hardcopy” is searched about 40 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“hardcopy vs hard copy”, “hard copy or hardcopy”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.