# hare

> English word · Noun · IPA /hɛə/ · frequency rank #11,895

## Definitions
1. Any of several plant-eating mammals of the genus Lepus, similar to a rabbit, but larger and with longer ears.
2. The meat from this animal.
3. The player in a paperchase, or hare and hounds game, who leaves a trail of paper to be followed.

## Etymology
From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (“hare”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasō ~ *haʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *hasô, from *haswaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian hazze, Dutch haas, German Hase, Norwegian and Swedish hare, Icelandic heri), Old English hasu, Middle High German heswe (“pale, dull”); also Welsh cannu (“to whiten”), ceinach (“hare”), Latin cānus (“white”), cascus (“old”), Old Prussian sasnis (“hare”), Pashto سوی (soe, “hare”) and Sanskrit शश (śaśa, “hare”).

## Easily confused with
- **he** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-he)
- **HR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hr)
- **has** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-has)
- **her** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-her)
- **hat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hat)
- **hay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hay)
- **hee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hee)
- **hue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hue)
- **hoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hoe)
- **hye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hye)
- **haw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-haw)
- **HRC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hrc)
- **HDR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hdr)
- **Hur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hur)
- **hav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hav)
- **hse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hse)
- **HRT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hrt)
- **hrm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hrm)
- **hor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hor)
- **HRW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hare-vs-hrw)

## Common misspellings (4)
`ahre`, `harre`, `hhare`, `hrae`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hare