hoarsely

adv

"hoarsely" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hoarsely” is uncommon English (frequency #94,953 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#94,953
frequency rank, English
23,837
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - With a dry, harsh voice.

Key facts for hoarsely
PropertyValue
Headwordhoarsely
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters8
Frequency rank#94,953
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hoarsely” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). hoarsely lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hoarsely is uncommon English at frequency #94,953 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "With a dry, harsh voice.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hoarsely, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hosely; equivalent to hoarse + -ly. The correct English form is hoarsely, spelled H-O-A-R-S-E-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    With a dry, harsh voice.

Etymology

From Middle English hosely; equivalent to hoarse + -ly.

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); 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

How do you spell "hoarsely"?
"hoarsely" is spelled H-O-A-R-S-E-L-Y.
What does "hoarsely" mean?
As an adverb, "hoarsely" means: With a dry, harsh voice.
What is the origin of the word "hoarsely"?
From Middle English hosely; equivalent to hoarse + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Using “hoarsely”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is H-O-A-R-S-E-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list