hi-hat

noun

"hi-hat" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hi-hat” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A pair of cymbals as part of a drum kit that clash together when actuated by the foot pedal.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hi-hat · hi-hat · English

hi-hat · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for hi-hat
PropertyValue
Headwordhi-hat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “hi-hat” in English

hi-hatfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hi-hat is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A pair of cymbals as part of a drum kit that clash together when actuated by the foot pedal.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hi-hat, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is hi-hat, spelled H-I---H-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A pair of cymbals as part of a drum kit that clash together when actuated by the foot pedal.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how hi-hat appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This hi-hat drum beat sounds really cute!

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hi-hat"?
"hi-hat" is spelled H-I---H-A-T.
What does "hi-hat" mean?
As a noun, "hi-hat" means: A pair of cymbals as part of a drum kit that clash together when actuated by the foot pedal.
What language does "hi-hat" come from?
"hi-hat" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list