hallow
/ˈhæləʊ/
"hallow" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hallow” is an uncommon English word, ranked #61,513 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #61,513
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A saint; a holy person; an apostle.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hallow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhæləʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #61,513 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hallow” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hallow is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhæləʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #61,513 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for hallow in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English hālga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-Europea… The correct English form is hallow, spelled H-A-L-L-O-W.
Definition
- 1A saint; a holy person; an apostle.
- 2The relics or shrines of saints or non-Christian gods.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English halwe (“a saint, holy thing, shrine”), from Old English hālga (“a holy one, saint”), from Proto-Germanic *hailagô (“holy one”), from *hailagaz (“holy”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, hale”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots halow, hallow (“saint”), German Heiliger (“saint (male)”) / Heilige (“saint (female)”). More at holy, whole.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “hallow”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-L-L-O-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhæləʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.