hearsay
hear·say/ˈhɪɹˌseɪ/noun
hearsay is spelled H-E-A-R-S-A-Y, 2 syllables: hear·say. The wrong spelling people search most is heresay: about 690 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Hearsay is a noun meaning “Information that was heard by one person about another that cannot be adequately substantiated”. The plural of hearsay is hearsays.
How many letters and syllables are in hearsay?
| Letters | 7: H-E-A-R-S-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: hear·say |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, heresay, about 690 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell hearsay?
Hearsay is spelled H-E-A-R-S-A-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for hearsay in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is hearsay?
Hearsay appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 hearsay?
- UK /ˈhɪəseɪ/
- US /ˈhɪɹˌseɪ/
- Australia /ˈhɪəsæɪ/
Hearsay has 2 syllables, split hear·say in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hearsay.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Ajshul-hearsay.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hearsay
- hearsays plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hearsay mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Information that was heard by one person about another that cannot be adequately substantiated.
based on hearsay
- 2
Evidence based on the reports of others, which is normally inadmissible because it was not made under oath, rather than on personal knowledge.
dismiss hearsay
- 3
An out-of-court statement offered in court to prove the truth of the matter asserted (or the in-court testimony which recites such a statement), which is normally inadmissible (because it is not subject to cross-examination) unless it falls under one of a number of exceptions.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hearsay in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ouï-dire, on-dit, rumeur |
| German | Hörensagen, Gerücht |
| Portuguese | diz que diz, diz que diz que, boato , testemunho de ouvidos |
| Spanish | rumores, habladurías, habladuría , pruebas de oídas, testimonio de oídas, evidencia por oídas |
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 hearsay come from?
From Middle English hyere-zigginge (1340), here sey (ca. 1438), from the phrase heren seien (“to hear [people] say”). Compare equally old Middle High German hœrsagen (14th c.), whence modern Hörensagen.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).