hireling
/ˈhaɪ.ə.lɪŋ/
"hireling" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hireling” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hireling · hireling · English
hireling · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hireling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhaɪ.ə.lɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hireling” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hireling is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhaɪ.ə.lɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for hireling in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling, German Heuerling. By surface analysis… The correct English form is hireling, spelled H-I-R-E-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
- 2Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
- 3A horse for hire.
- 4A prostitute.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hireling appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Is there not an appointed time to man vpon earth? are not his dayes alſo like the dayes of an hireling?
When my poor James was in the small-pox, did I allow any hireling to nurse him?
Etymology
From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling, German Heuerling. By surface analysis, hire + -ling.
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.