hairball
noun
hairball is spelled H-A-I-R-B-A-L-L: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 87,317th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hairball means “A trichobezoar; a small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hairball is hairballs.
How many letters and syllables are in hairball?
| Letters | 8: H-A-I-R-B-A-L-L |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 87,317th 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 hairball?
Hairball appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 87,317th 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 hairball?
- Australia
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-hairball.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hairball
- hairballs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hairball mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A trichobezoar; a small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.
- 2
slangA messy, tangled, intractable issue.
The contract negotiations are turning into a real hairball.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hairball in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | égagropile |
| German | Fellknäuel, Haarballen |
| Portuguese | pricobezoar, bola de pelo |
| Spanish | bezoar , peludo, tema peludo |
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 hairball come from?
From hair + ball.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).