hairsplitting
verb, noun
hairsplitting is spelled H-A-I-R-S-P-L-I-T-T-I-N-G: 13 letters. It appears about once in every 79 million words in written English, the 282,993rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, hairsplitting means “present participle and gerund of hairsplit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hairsplitting?
| Letters | 13: H-A-I-R-S-P-L-I-T-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 79 million words; the 282,993rd 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 hairsplitting?
Hairsplitting appears about once in every 79 million words in written English, the 282,993rd 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).
Forms of hairsplitting
- hairsplittings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hairsplitting mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of hairsplit
noun
- 1
Alternative form of hair-splitting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does hairsplitting come from?
From hair + splitting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).