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PlainSpell

hazard

/ˈhæzɚd/noun, verb

hazard is spelled H-A-Z-A-R-D: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hazard means “A game of chance played with dice, usually for monetary stakes, popular mainly from 14th c. to 19th c” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hazard is hazards.

How many letters and syllables are in hazard?

Letters6: H-A-Z-A-R-D
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 hazard?

Hazard appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th 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 hazard?

  • UK /ˈhæzəd/
  • US /ˈhæzɚd/
  • Australia /ˈhæzəd/

Hazard has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hazard.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with hazard?

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

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 hazard

  • hazards plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • hazarding participle, present
  • hazarded participle, past

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

What does hazard mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A game of chance played with dice, usually for monetary stakes, popular mainly from 14th c. to 19th c.

  2. 2

    Chance; accident, unpredictability.

  3. 3

    The risk of some loss or harm; danger, peril, the chance of an adverse outcome.

    He encountered the enemy at the hazard of his reputation and life.

  4. 4

    A situation involving such a risk of harm or loss; (later also) a person or object which poses such a risk, something seen as a source of danger or difficulty.

    The video game involves guiding a character on a skateboard past all kinds of hazards.

  5. 5

    Each of the various openings or galleries around the side of a court.

  6. 6

    obsoleteAnything that is hazarded or risked, such as a stake in gambling.

  7. 7

    A stroke which results in potting a ball, whether the object ball (winning hazard) or the player's ball (losing hazard).

  8. 8

    Something which prevents free striking of the ball, such as a sand or water obstacle.

verb

  1. 1

    To expose to chance; to take a risk.

  2. 2

    To risk (something); to venture, incur, or bring on.

    I'll hazard a guess.

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

Hazard in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchhasard, danger (the chance of suffering harm), tenter, hasarder (to chance; to take a risk)
GermanZufall (the chance of suffering harm), riskieren, hasardieren (to chance; to take a risk), Gefahr (peril), Hindernis (obstacle)
Portugueserisco (the chance of suffering harm), perigo (peril)
Spanishescollo (the chance of suffering harm), arriesgar, apeligrar, aventurar, chansear (to chance; to take a risk)

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 hazard come from?

From Middle English hasard, from Old French hasart (“a game of dice”) (noun), hasarder (verb), from Arabic اَلزَّهْر (az-zahr, “the dice”). Compare Spanish azar, Portuguese azar.

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

What to look up after hazard