hissy
/ˈhɪsi/
"hissy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hissy” is uncommon English (frequency #58,745 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,745
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Accompanied with hisses.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hissy · hissy · English
hissy · rank #58,745 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #58,745
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH Hershel
Nearest frequency peer: Hershel (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “hissy”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- hemophilia
hemophilia
41,259 corpus weight
- herniated
herniated
41,258 corpus weight
- Hershel
Hershel
41,257 corpus weight
- hissy
hissy
41,256 corpus weight
- hobble
hobble
41,255 corpus weight
- honcho
honcho
41,253 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “hissy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hissy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhɪsi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #58,745 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hissy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hissy is uncommon English at frequency #58,745 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈhɪsi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hissy, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hiss + -y. The correct English form is hissy, spelled H-I-S-S-Y.
Definition
- 1Accompanied with hisses.
- 2Making a hissing sound.
- 3Childish or petulant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hissy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Each is very inexpensive ($60 per two-pack for the Midland, $100 a pair for the Audiovox), and feels it. Each is also tiny, no bigger than a bar of Ivory. Both are far hissier than their more expensive rivals, and don't have as much range (more on this in a moment).
Viewers were aghast. . . . As co-host Regis Philbin flinched, Gifford launched into a teary, it's-not-my-fault, TV hissy fit: "You can say I'm ugly, you can say I'm not talented, but when you say I don't care about children, how dare you!"
Etymology
From hiss + -y.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hissy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).