hard-wearing

adj

"hard-wearing" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hard-wearing” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Able to withstand a significant amount of usage without physical deterioration; durable.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hard-wearing · hard-wearing · English

hard-wearing · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for hard-wearing
PropertyValue
Headwordhard-wearing
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “hard-wearing” in English

hard-wearingsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hard-wearing is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Able to withstand a significant amount of usage without physical deterioration; durable.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for hard-wearing, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From hard + wearing. The correct English form is hard-wearing, spelled H-A-R-D---W-E-A-R-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Able to withstand a significant amount of usage without physical deterioration; durable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how hard-wearing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Throughout B.R. activity to improve drainage and ballast, to lay in more long-welded rails [...] and concrete sleepers, and to provide more hard-wearing pointwork and crossings will be intensified in the next four years.

Etymology

From hard + wearing.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hard-wearing"?
"hard-wearing" is spelled H-A-R-D---W-E-A-R-I-N-G.
What does "hard-wearing" mean?
As an adjective, "hard-wearing" means: Able to withstand a significant amount of usage without physical deterioration; durable.
What is the origin of the word "hard-wearing"?
From hard + wearing. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list