hanker
/ˈhæŋkə(ɹ)/
"hanker" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hanker” is uncommon English (frequency #98,200 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #98,200
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To crave, want or desire.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hanker · hanker · English
hanker · rank #98,200 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #98,200
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH Handsworth
Nearest frequency peer: Handsworth (-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 “hanker”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Hamtramck
Hamtramck
1,803 corpus weight
- Handsworth
Handsworth
1,802 corpus weight
- hanker
hanker
1,801 corpus weight
- harddrive
harddrive
1,799 corpus weight
- Hartfield
Hartfield
1,795 corpus weight
- Haslem
Haslem
1,794 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “hanker” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “hanker” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hanker is uncommon English at frequency #98,200 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈhæŋkə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hanker appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If you hanker for chocolate, you'll like this fudge recipe.
“O ’tis true enough, faith. I cannot understand Farmer Boldwood being such a fool at his time of life as to ho and hanker after thik^([sic]) woman in the way ’a do, and she not care a bit about en.”
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hanker", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).