hack
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "hack", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "hack" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "hack" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
hack is aEnglishverb. It means: To chop or cut down in a rough manner. Pronounced /hæk/. It ranks #6,578 in English word frequency. Often confused with hc and HK.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hack |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /hæk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #6,578 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hack is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hæk/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,578 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for hack, with forms such as "ahck", "hacck", and "hackk". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hc", "HK", "has", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”). Cognate with Saterlan… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is hack, spelled H-A-C-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To chop or cut down in a rough manner.
- 2To withstand or put up with a difficult situation.
- 3To make a quick code change to patch a computer program, often one that, while being effective, is inelegant or makes the program harder to maintain.
- 4To accomplish a difficult programming task.
- 5To work with something on an intimately technical level.
- 6To apply a trick, shortcut, skill, or novel method to something to increase productivity, efficiency or ease.
- 7To hack into; to gain unauthorized access to (a computer system, e.g., a website, or network) by manipulating code.
- 8To gain unauthorized access to a computer or online account belonging to (a person or organisation).
- 9To cheat by using unauthorized modifications.
- 10To strike an opponent with one's hockey stick, typically on the leg but occasionally and more seriously on the back, arm, head, etc.
- 11To make a flailing attempt to hit the puck with a hockey stick.
- 12To swing at a pitched ball.
- 13To kick (a player) on the shins.
- 14To strike in a frantic movement.
- 15To strike lightly as part of tapotement massage.
Etymology
From Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian häkje (“to hack”), West Frisian hakje (“to hack”), Dutch hakken (“to chop up; hack”), German hacken (“to chop; hack; hoe”), Danish hakke (“to chop”), Swedish hacka (“to hack; chop”), French hacher (“to chop”). The computer senses date back to at least 1955 when it initially referred to creative problem solving. By 1963, the negative connotations of “black hat” or malicious hacking had become associated with telephone hacking (cf. phreaking).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahck,hacck,hackk,hakc,hcak,hhack
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hack
Misspelling Variants of "hack"
Frequency rank: #6,578 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "hack"?
What does "hack" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "hack"?
How do you pronounce "hack"?
What is the origin of the word "hack"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index: