hamon

noun

"hamon" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hamon” is uncommon English (frequency #58,735 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,735
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A wavy line found on steel products that have been hardened differentially, with soft and hard steel sections, where the tempered steel is separated from the softer parts by the hamon.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hamon · hamon · English

hamon · rank #58,735 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,735
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH Hants

Nearest frequency peer: Hants (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “hamon”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “hamon” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for hamon
PropertyValue
Headwordhamon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#58,735
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “hamon” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).hamonfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Hants” (#58,736), “Hader” (#58,733), “grudging” (#58,730). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “hamon” is #58,735. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hamon is uncommon English at frequency #58,735 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A wavy line found on steel products that have been hardened differentially, with soft and hard steel sections, where the tempered steel is separated from the softer parts by the hamon.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hamon, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 刃文. The correct English form is hamon, spelled H-A-M-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A wavy line found on steel products that have been hardened differentially, with soft and hard steel sections, where the tempered steel is separated from the softer parts by the hamon.

Etymology

From Japanese 刃文.

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

How do you spell "hamon"?
"hamon" is spelled H-A-M-O-N.
What does "hamon" mean?
As a noun, "hamon" means: A wavy line found on steel products that have been hardened differentially, with soft and hard steel sections, where the tempered steel is separated from the softer parts by the hamon.
What is the origin of the word "hamon"?
From Japanese 刃文. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hamon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list