hit
/hɪt/verb, noun, adjective, pronoun
hit is spelled H-I-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, hit means “To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hit?
| Letters | 3: H-I-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 234 times per million words; the 425th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is hit?
Hit appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th 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 hit?
- /hɪt/
Hit 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-hit.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-hit.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with hit?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as hit.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ith, iht.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of hit
- hits present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- hitting participle, present
- hitself
- $hits plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- $hiter comparative
- more $hit comparative
- $hitest superlative
- most $hit superlative
- $hitting participle, present
- $hat past, participle
- $hitted past, rare, participle
- $hitten participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hit mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile.
One boy hit the other.
- 2
To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly.
The ball hit the fence.
- 3
To strike against something.
I can't get anything to hit at that distance.
- 4
To activate a button or key by pressing and releasing it.
Hit the Enter key to continue.
- 5
slangTo kill a person, usually on the instructions of a third party.
Hit him tonight and throw the body in the river.
- 6
To attack, especially amphibiously.
If intelligence had been what it should have been, I don't think we'd ever have hit that island.
- 7
To affect someone, as if dealing a blow to that person.
Their coffee really hits the spot.
- 8
To manage to touch (a target) in the right place.
I hit the jackpot.
noun
- 1
A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.
The hit was very slight.
- 2
Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim.
- 3
A blow; a calamitous or damaging occurrence.
His reputation took a hit when the new information came to light.
- 4
An attack on a location, person or people.
- 5
A collision of a projectile with the target.
- 6
In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
- 7
A match found by searching a computer system or search engine
- 8
A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server.
My site received twice as many hits after being listed in a search engine.
adjective
- 1
Very successful.
The band played their hit song to the delight of the fans.
pronoun
- 1
It.
noun
- 1
Acronym of high-intensity interval training.
- 2
Acronym of high-intensity training.
- 3
Initialism of health information technology.
- 4
Initialism of hyperspectral imaging technique.
- 5
Acronym of human intelligence task
- 6
Abbreviation of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.
- 7
Abbreviation of herd immunity threshold.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate hit?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of hit: h.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | frapper, battre , cogner , toucher , descendre , se taper |
| German | schlagen, treffen, stoßen , knallen , Schlag, Hieb |
| Portuguese | golpear, bater , chocar-se, colidir , acertar , golpe |
| Spanish | golpear, pegarle, batir, darle, fajar, fajear |
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 hit come from?
Inherited from Middle English hitten (“to hit, strike, make contact with”), from Old English hittan (“to meet with, come upon, fall in with”), from Old Norse hitta (“to strike, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to fall; fall upon; hit; cut; hew”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).