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PlainSpell

hike

/haɪk/noun, verb, interjection

hike is spelled H-I-K-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hike means “A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hike is hikes.

How many letters and syllables are in hike?

Letters4: H-I-K-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd 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 hike?

Hike appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 hike?

  • /haɪk/

Hike 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-hike.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of hike

  • hikes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • hiking participle, present
  • hiked participle, past

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

What does hike mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise.

  2. 2

    An abrupt increase.

    The tenants were not happy with the rent hike.

  3. 3

    The snap of the ball to start a play.

  4. 4

    A sharp upward tug to raise something.

verb

  1. 1

    To take a long walk (on something) for pleasure or exercise.

    Don't forget to bring the map when we go hiking tomorrow.

  2. 2

    To unfairly or suddenly raise a price.

  3. 3

    To snap the ball to start a play.

  4. 4

    To lean out to the windward side of a sailboat in order to counterbalance the effects of the wind on the sails.

  5. 5

    To pull up or tug upwards sharply.

    She hiked her skirt up.

interjection

  1. 1

    Let's go; get moving. A command to a dog sled team, given by a musher.

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

Hike in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrandonnée (a long walk), hausse, augmentation (an abrupt increase), partir en randonnée, randonner (to take a long walk for pleasure or exercise)
GermanWanderung (a long walk), wandern (to take a long walk for pleasure or exercise), Snap (the snap of the ball to start a play)
Portuguesecaminhada, passeio, excursão (a long walk), fazer/dar uma caminhada, andarilhar, caminar (to take a long walk for pleasure or exercise)
Spanishcaminata (a long walk), suba, aumento (an abrupt increase), caminar, senderear (to take a long walk for pleasure or exercise)

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 hike come from?

From English dialectal hyke (“to walk vigorously”), probably a Northern form of hitch, from Middle English hytchen, hichen, icchen (“to move, jerk, stir”). Cognate with Scots hyke (“to move with a jerk”), dialectal German hicken (“to hobble, walk with a limp”), Danish hinke (“to hop”).

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

What to look up after hike