harking

noun

"harking" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“harking” is uncommon English (frequency #87,355 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#87,355
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of harking back; a reversion or return.

Corpus desk

Index EN-harking · harking · English

harking · rank #87,355 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #87,355
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH harangue

Nearest frequency peer: harangue (-3 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 “harking”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “harking” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for harking
PropertyValue
Headwordharking
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#87,355
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “harking” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).harkingfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “harangue” (#87,352), “heartworm” (#87,358), “Heebie” (#87,359). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “harking” is #87,355. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

harking is uncommon English at frequency #87,355 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The act of harking back; a reversion or return.".

Zero misspellings are on record for harking in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is harking, spelled H-A-R-K-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of harking back; a reversion or return.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Despite such harkings to the Old Muscovite past, the trappings of European life inevitably followed once the Russians began to live in European settings.

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

How do you spell "harking"?
"harking" is spelled H-A-R-K-I-N-G.
What does "harking" mean?
As a noun, "harking" means: The act of harking back; a reversion or return.
What language does "harking" come from?
"harking" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "harking", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list