hean
/hiːn/obsolete
hean is spelled H-E-A-N: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 138,319th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, hean means “Mean; abject; poor; humble; lowly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hean?
| Letters | 4: H-E-A-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 21 million words; the 138,319th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is hean?
Hean appears about once in every 21 million words in written English, the 138,319th 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 hean?
- /hiːn/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-hean.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hean
- more hean comparative
- most hean superlative
- hene
- heans present, singular, he/she/it
- heaning participle, present
- heaned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hean mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
obsoleteMean; abject; poor; humble; lowly.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo treat with contumely; insult; humiliate; debase; lower.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does hean come from?
From Middle English hene, from Old English hēan (“lowly, despised, poor, mean, bare, abject”), from Proto-Germanic *hauniz (“low, lowly”), from Proto-Indo-European *kaw- (“to degrade, humiliate”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).