hanker
/ˈhæŋkə(ɹ)/
"hanker" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hanker” is an uncommon English word, ranked #98,200 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #98,200
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To crave, want or desire.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hanker |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈhæŋkə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #98,200 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hanker” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hanker is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhæŋkə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #98,200 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To crave, want or desire.".
hanker has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: With a secondary frequentative suffix -er, ultimately pointing to Proto-Germanic *hankōną, an iterative to *hanhaną (“to hang”). Related to Dutch hunkeren (“to crave”), which continues the zero-grade iterative. The correct English form is hanker, spelled H-A-N-K-E-R.
Definition
- 1To crave, want or desire.
Etymology
With a secondary frequentative suffix -er, ultimately pointing to Proto-Germanic *hankōną, an iterative to *hanhaną (“to hang”). Related to Dutch hunkeren (“to crave”), which continues the zero-grade iterative.
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 “hanker”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-N-K-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhæŋkə(ɹ)/ (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.