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PlainSpell

hell

/hɛl/noun, interjection, adverb, verb

hell is spelled H-E-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 126 times per million words in written English, the 831st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hell means “A place or situation of great suffering in life” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hell is hells.

How many letters and syllables are in hell?

Letters4: H-E-L-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing126 times per million words; the 831st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is hell?

Hell appears 126 times per million words in written English, the 831st 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 hell?

  • /hɛl/

Hell 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: En-us-hell.ogg, En-uk-hell.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of hell

  • hells plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • helling participle, present
  • helled participle, past

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

What does hell mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A place or situation of great suffering in life.

    My new boss is making my job a hell.

  2. 2

    A place for gambling.

  3. 3

    An extremely hot place.

    You don’t have a snowball's chance in hell.

  4. 4

    vulgarUsed as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun.

    I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA place into which a tailor throws shreds, or a printer discards broken type.

  6. 6

    In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.

  7. 7

    colloquialSomething extremely painful or harmful (to)

    That steep staircase is hell on my knees.

interjection

  1. 1

    colloquialvulgarUsed to express discontent, unhappiness, or anger.

    Oh, hell! I got another parking ticket.

  2. 2

    colloquialvulgarUsed to emphasize.

    Hell yeah!

  3. 3

    colloquialvulgarUsed to introduce an intensified statement following an understated one; nay; not only that, but.

    Do it, or, rest assured, there will be no more Middle Eastern crisis – hell, there will be no more Middle East!

adverb

  1. 1

    colloquialvulgarAlternative form of the hell or like hell.

    - Oh, aren't they sweet?

  2. 2

    AustraliacolloquialvulgarVery; used to emphasize strongly.

    That was hell good!

verb

  1. 1

    colloquialvulgarTo make hellish; to place (someone) in hell; to make (a place) into a hell.

  2. 2

    colloquialvulgarTo hurry, rush.

  3. 3

    colloquialvulgarTo move quickly and loudly; to raise hell as part of motion.

    He was helling down the road with his radio blaring.

  4. 4

    colloquialrarevulgarTo add luster to; to burnish (silver or gold).

  5. 5

    colloquialrarevulgarTo pour.

    18th century, Josiah Relph, The Harvest; or Bashful Shepherd Gosh, the sickle went into me handː Down hell'd the bluid.

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

Hell in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchenfer (place of suffering in life), merde (hell!)
GermanHölle (place of suffering in life), zur Hölle!, Himmel!, Teufel! (hell!)
Portugueseinferno (place of suffering in life)
Spanishinfierno (place of suffering in life), carajo!, mierda!, diablos!, joder! (hell!)

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 hell come from?

From Middle English hel, hell, helle, hælle, from Old English hel, hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“hell, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). First attested in c. 725.

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

What to look up after hell