hedgehog
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "hedgehog", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "hedgehog" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "hedgehog" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
hedgehog is aEnglishnoun. It means: A small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked, native to Afro-Eurasia. Pronounced /ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/.
Compare similar words
See how hedgehog compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hedgehog |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #20,950 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hedgehog is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,950 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for hedgehog, with forms such as "ehdgehog", "hdegehog", and "heddgehog". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English heyghoge; equivalent to hedge + hog. Eclipsed non-native Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog”), from Old French hirchoun, herichon (“hedgehog”); and displaced earlier Middle English il, from Old English īl, iġil (“hedgehog”). In t… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is hedgehog, spelled H-E-D-G-E-H-O-G, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked, native to Afro-Eurasia.
- 2Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog.
- 3Ellipsis of Czech hedgehog (“an antitank obstacle constructed from three steel rails”).
- 4A spigot mortar-type of depth charge weapon from World War II that simultaneously fires a number of explosives into the water to create a pattern of underwater explosions intended to attack submerged submarines.
- 5A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
- 6A form of dredging machine.
- 7Certain flowering plants with parts resembling a member of family Erinaceidae
- 8Certain flowering plants with parts resembling a member of family Erinaceidae
- 9The edible fungus Hydnum repandum.
- 10A kind of electrical transformer with open magnetic circuit, the ends of the iron wire core being turned outward and presenting a bristling appearance.
- 11A way of serving food at a party, consisting of a half melon or potato etc. with individual cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple stuck into it.
- 12A type of plane curve; see Hedgehog (geometry).
- 13Someone who has one big overarching personal philosophy or worldview.
Etymology
From Middle English heyghoge; equivalent to hedge + hog. Eclipsed non-native Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog”), from Old French hirchoun, herichon (“hedgehog”); and displaced earlier Middle English il, from Old English īl, iġil (“hedgehog”). In the philosophical sense, from the 1953 essay The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin. Compare typologically Korean 고슴도치 (goseumdochi) (<<+ Middle Korean 돝 (twoth, “pig, swine”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ehdgehog,hdegehog,heddgehog,hedeghog,hedgehgo,hedgehhog,hedgehogg,hedgeohg,hedggehog,hedgheog,hegdehog,hhedgehog
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hedgehog
Misspelling Variants of "hedgehog"
Frequency rank: #20,950 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "hedgehog"?
What does "hedgehog" mean?
What are common misspellings of "hedgehog"?
How do you pronounce "hedgehog"?
What is the origin of the word "hedgehog"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index: