# harsh

> English word · Adjective · IPA /hɑɹʃ/ · frequency rank #5,687

## Definitions
1. Unpleasantly rough to the touch or other senses.
2. Severe or cruel.

## Etymology
From Middle English harsk, harisk(e), hask(e), herris. Century derived the term from Old Norse harskr (whence Danish harsk (“rancid”), dialectal Norwegian hersk, Swedish härsk); the Middle English Dictionary derives it from that and Middle Low German harsch (“rough”, literally “hairy”) (whence also German harsch), from haer (“hair”), from Old Saxon hār, from Proto-West Germanic *hār; the Oxford Dictionary of English derives it from Middle Low German alone.

## Easily confused with
- **has** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-has)
- **hart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hart)
- **hats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hats)
- **hers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hers)
- **hash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hash)
- **hath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hath)
- **hush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hush)
- **Hays** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hays)
- **hast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hast)
- **Haus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-haus)
- **horse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-horse)
- **hatch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hatch)
- **hears** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hears)
- **hurst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hurst)
- **horst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-horst)
- **Hausa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hausa)
- **hearth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hearth)
- **Hearst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hearst)
- **hearse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hearse)
- **hoarse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hoarse)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ahrsh`, `harhs`, `harrsh`, `harshh`, `harssh`, `hasrh`, `hharsh`, `hrash`

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