hairsbreadth
hairs·breadth/ˈhɛəɹzbɹɛdθ/noun
hairsbreadth is spelled H-A-I-R-S-B-R-E-A-D-T-H: 12 letters and 2 syllables (hairs·breadth). It appears about once in every 81 million words in written English, the 286,585th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hairsbreadth means “Alternative form of hair's breadth: a very short distance or a very small amount (as is the width of a hair)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hairsbreadth is hairsbreadths.
How many letters and syllables are in hairsbreadth?
| Letters | 12: H-A-I-R-S-B-R-E-A-D-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: hairs·breadth |
| In writing | about once in every 81 million words; the 286,585th 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 hairsbreadth?
Hairsbreadth appears about once in every 81 million words in written English, the 286,585th 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 hairsbreadth?
- US /ˈhɛəɹzbɹɛdθ/
Hairsbreadth has 2 syllables, split hairs·breadth in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of hairsbreadth
- hairsbreadths plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hairsbreadth mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative form of hair's breadth: a very short distance or a very small amount (as is the width of a hair).
In Avatar the spectacular rides to the rescue and hairsbreadth escapes have the whole film behind them and because of that are dramatically and emotionally satisfying.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does hairsbreadth come from?
From hair + -s- + breadth.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).