hemp
/hɛmp/noun
hemp is spelled H-E-M-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hemp means “A tall annual herb, Cannabis sativa, native to Asia” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hemp is hemps.
How many letters and syllables are in hemp?
| Letters | 4: H-E-M-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 hemp?
Hemp appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th 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 hemp?
- /hɛmp/
Hemp 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-hemp.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-hemp.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hemp
- hemps plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hemp mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A tall annual herb, Cannabis sativa, native to Asia.
- 2
Various products of this plant, including fibres and the drug cannabis.
- 3
slangThe gallows.
noun
- 1
Acronym of high-altitude electromagnetic pulse.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hemp in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Cannabis sativa:
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 hemp come from?
Inherited from Middle English hemp, from Old English henep, from Proto-West Germanic *hanapi, from Proto-Germanic *hanapiz. Doublet of cannabis and canvas.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).