hailstone
/ˈheɪlstoʊn/noun
hailstone is spelled H-A-I-L-S-T-O-N-E: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 131,834th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hailstone means “A single ball of hail, or solid precipitation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hailstone is hailstones.
How many letters and syllables are in hailstone?
| Letters | 9: H-A-I-L-S-T-O-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 19 million words; the 131,834th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is hailstone?
Hailstone appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 131,834th 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 hailstone?
- US /ˈheɪlstoʊn/
Hailstone has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-hailstone.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hailstone
- hailstones plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hailstone mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A single ball of hail, or solid precipitation
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hailstone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense single ball of hail:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | grêlon |
| German | Hagelkorn |
| Portuguese | granizo |
| Spanish | granizo, cascarrina, pedrisco, pedrisquero |
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 hailstone come from?
From Middle English hailston, haylestone, hawelston, hawleston, from Old English hagolstān (“hailstone”), from Proto-West Germanic *haglastain, from Proto-Germanic *haglastainaz, equivalent to hail + stone. Cognate with West Frisian heilstien (“hailstone”), Saterland Frisian Hailsteen (“hailstone”), Dutch hagelsteen (“hailstone”), German Low German Hagelsteen (“hailstone”), German Hagelstein (“hailstone”), Swedish hagelsten (“hailstone”), Icelandic haglsteinn (“hailstone”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).