brouhaha

/ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː/

//ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː// noun

"brouhaha" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“brouhaha” is uncommon English (frequency #78,439 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,439
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A stir; a fuss or uproar.

Corpus desk

Index EN-brouhaha · brouhaha · English

brouhaha · rank #78,439 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,439
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH brontosaurus

Nearest frequency peer: brontosaurus (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “brouhaha”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “brouhaha” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for brouhaha
PropertyValue
Headwordbrouhaha
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː/
Letters8
Frequency rank#78,439
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “brouhaha” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).brouhahafalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “brontosaurus” (#78,437), “Brittan” (#78,436), “brims” (#78,435). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “brouhaha” is #78,439. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

brouhaha is uncommon English at frequency #78,439 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A stir; a fuss or uproar.".

brouhaha doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. 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: Borrowed from French brouhaha, but disputed as to where from before that. Possibly from Hebrew בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא (barúkh habá, “welcome”, literally “blessed is he who comes”). The correct English form is brouhaha, spelled B-R-O-U-H-A-H-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A stir; a fuss or uproar.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how brouhaha appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It caused quite a brouhaha when the school suspended one of its top students for refusing to adhere to the dress code.
  2. For as they were maneuvering the cylinder onto a dolly, it split and dumped one ton of chlorine trifluoride onto the floor. It chewed its way through twelve inches of concrete and dug a three-foot hole in the gravel underneath, filled the place with fumes which corroded everything in sight, and, in general, made one hell of a mess. Civil Defense turned ou…

Etymology

Borrowed from French brouhaha, but disputed as to where from before that. Possibly from Hebrew בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא (barúkh habá, “welcome”, literally “blessed is he who comes”).

This word in other languages

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

How do you spell "brouhaha"?
"brouhaha" is spelled B-R-O-U-H-A-H-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː/.
What does "brouhaha" mean?
As a noun, "brouhaha" means: A stir; a fuss or uproar.
How do you pronounce "brouhaha"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "brouhaha" is /ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "brouhaha"?
Borrowed from French brouhaha, but disputed as to where from before that. Possibly from Hebrew בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא (barúkh habá, “welcome”, literally “blessed is he who comes”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "brouhaha", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list