harpy
/ˈhɑɹpi/
"harpy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“harpy” is an uncommon English word, ranked #52,984 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #52,984
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | harpy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɑɹpi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #52,984 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “harpy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for harpy is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɑɹpi/. Corpus data places it at rank #52,984 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.
No generated misspelling entries exist for harpy in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek ἅρπυιᾰ (hárpuiă, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie. The correct English form is harpy, spelled H-A-R-P-Y.
Definition
- 1A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
- 2A shrewish woman.
- 3One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
- 4Any of a number of eagle-like birds of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae, especially the species Harpia harpyja.
- 5The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
Etymology
Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek ἅρπυιᾰ (hárpuiă, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.
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 “harpy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-R-P-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɑɹpi/ (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.