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harpy

har·py/ˈhɑɹpi/noun

harpy is spelled H-A-R-P-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (har·py). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,954th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, harpy means “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…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of harpy is harpies.

How many letters and syllables are in harpy?

Letters5: H-A-R-P-Y
Syllables2: har·py
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 52,954th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is harpy?

Harpy appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,954th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce harpy?

  • US /ˈhɑɹpi/
  • UK /ˈhɑːpi/

Harpy has 2 syllables, split har·py in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-harpy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with harpy?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as harpy from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹpi/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of harpy

  • harpies plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does harpy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    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.

  2. 2

    derogatoryA shrewish woman.

  3. 3

    One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.

  4. 4

    Any of a number of eagle-like birds of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae, especially the species Harpia harpyja.

  5. 5

    The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Harpy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchharpie (fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman), chipie, rosse (obnoxious, shrewish woman)
GermanHarpyie (fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman), Drachen (obnoxious, shrewish woman)
Portugueseharpia (fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman), uiraçu (bird of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae)
Spanisharpía, harpía (fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does harpy come from?

Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek ἅρπυιᾰ (hárpuiă, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “to snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after harpy