harebrained

adj

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

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Absurd, foolish or stupid.

Corpus desk

Index EN-harebrained · harebrained · English

harebrained · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 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 harebrained
PropertyValue
Headwordharebrained
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “harebrained” in English

harebrainedfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

harebrained is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

harebrained doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From hare + brained. The correct English form is harebrained, spelled H-A-R-E-B-R-A-I-N-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Absurd, foolish or stupid.
  2. 2
    Frivolous and silly; featherbrained or scatterbrained; stupid.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. “Now why do I get the feeling we're not talking about the harebrained plan you came up with?” “It wasn't harebrained.” “Did it have you going within twenty feet of a whorehouse at night, unchaperoned?” He knew darn well it did.
  2. Her getting a parcel from a hare-brained wench at the coaches in St. John Street; her booty made at the fire, and again at Harwich, all give us excelle

Etymology

From hare + brained.

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 "harebrained"?
"harebrained" is spelled H-A-R-E-B-R-A-I-N-E-D.
What does "harebrained" mean?
As an adjective, "harebrained" means: Absurd, foolish or stupid.
What is the origin of the word "harebrained"?
From hare + brained. 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