hackneyed
hack·neyed/ˈhæk.nid/adjective, verb
hackneyed is spelled H-A-C-K-N-E-Y-E-D: 9 letters and 2 syllables (hack·neyed). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, hackneyed means “Repeated too often” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hackneyed?
| Letters | 9: H-A-C-K-N-E-Y-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: hack·neyed |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 59,387th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is hackneyed?
Hackneyed appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce hackneyed?
- /ˈhæk.nid/
- [ˈhæknɪi̯d]
Hackneyed has 2 syllables, split hack·neyed in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-hackneyed.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hackneyed
- more hackneyed comparative
- most hackneyed superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hackneyed mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Repeated too often.
The sermon was full of hackneyed phrases and platitudes.
- 2
datedLet out for hire.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of hackney
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hackneyed in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense repeated too often:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rebattu, éculé |
| German | abgedroschen, abgenutzt, banal, ausgelutscht, abgegriffen |
| Portuguese | banal, trivial, batido |
| Spanish | gastado, trillado, manido, manoseado, sobado, traído y llevado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hackneyed come from?
From hackney + -ed. Most likely from the fact that hackney carriages have been used so much, that they are extremely commonplace now.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).