Hanse
/hæns/
"hanse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Hanse” is an uncommon English word, ranked #86,337 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #86,337
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A merchant guild, particularly the Fellowship of London Merchants (the "Old Hanse") given a monopoly on London's foreign trade by the Normans or its successor, the Company of Merchant Adventurers (...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Hanse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /hæns/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #86,337 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Hanse” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Hanse is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hæns/. Corpus data places it at rank #86,337 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Hanse, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hanse, from Old French hanse (“guild; guild fee”), from Medieval Latin hansa, from Old High German hansa, from Proto-West Germanic *hansu, from Proto-Germanic *hansō (“gathering; coalition; gang of men”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱómsōd… The correct English form is Hanse, spelled H-A-N-S-E.
Definition
- 1A merchant guild, particularly the Fellowship of London Merchants (the "Old Hanse") given a monopoly on London's foreign trade by the Normans or its successor, the Company of Merchant Adventurers (the "New Hanse"), incorporated in 1497 and chartered under Henry VII and Elizabeth I.
- 2The rights and privileges of such guilds, particularly their trade monopolies.
- 3A commercial association of Scottish free burghs in the Middle Ages.
- 4The Hanseatic League: a commercial association of German towns in the Middle Ages.
- 5Alternative form of hanse, the fees payable to a Hanse or its guildhall.
Etymology
From Middle English hanse, from Old French hanse (“guild; guild fee”), from Medieval Latin hansa, from Old High German hansa, from Proto-West Germanic *hansu, from Proto-Germanic *hansō (“gathering; coalition; gang of men”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱómsōd (“union; gathering”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by, with, along”) + *sed- (“to sit”). In reference to the Hanseatic League, via German Hanse. Cognate with Old English hōs (“company, retinue, escorts”),
Synonyms
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 “Hanse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-N-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hæns/ (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.