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PlainSpell

hearse

/hɝs/noun, verb

hearse is spelled H-E-A-R-S-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hearse means “A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hearse is hearses.

How many letters and syllables are in hearse?

Letters6: H-E-A-R-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 36,998th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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 hearse?

Hearse appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th 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 hearse?

  • UK /hɜːs/
  • US /hɝs/

Hearse has one syllable (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-hearse.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with hearse

Sounds like: herse (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: hearst.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with hearse?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hearse from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹs/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sharee.

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 hearse

  • hearses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • herse
  • hearsing participle, present
  • hearsed participle, past

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

What does hearse mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.

  2. 2

    A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument.

  3. 3

    A bier or handbarrow for conveying the dead to the grave.

  4. 4

    A carriage or vehicle specially adapted or used for transporting a dead person to the place of funeral or to the grave.

  5. 5

    Alternative form of hearst (“A hind (female deer) in the second or third year of her age”).

verb

  1. 1

    datedTo enclose in a hearse; to entomb.

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

Hearse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbaldaquin (framework placed over coffin or tomb), tombe, cercueil (grave, coffin, tomb), corbillard (vehicle for transporting dead)
GermanLeichenwagen (vehicle for transporting dead)
Portugueserabecão, carro fúnebre (vehicle for transporting dead)
Spanishcoche fúnebre, carroza (vehicle for transporting dead)

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 hearse come from?

From Middle English herse, hers, herce, from Old French herce in the sense "triangular framework used to support candles". Ultimately the same word as Old French herce (“harrow”), from Latin *herpicem, accusative singular of *herpex, a variant form of hirpex (“harrow”). The agricultural device's name comes from Oscan hirpus (“wolf”), a reference to a harrow's many teeth. The term for wolf may ultimately be from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“stiff, rigid, bristled”). The Oscan term is related to Latin hīrsūtus (“bristly, shaggy”), whence English hirsute.

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

What to look up after hearse