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PlainSpell

hock

/hɑk/noun, verb

hock is spelled H-O-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “hawk vs hock” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, hock means “A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hock is hocks.

How many letters and syllables are in hock?

Letters4: H-O-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 35,320th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is hock?

Hock appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th 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 hock?

  • UK /hɒk/
  • US /hɑk/

Hock 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-hock.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with hock

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

hawk vs hock40 G

Also written: hawk, hough.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with hock?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hock from its last stressed vowel (/ɑk/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: koch, chok.

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 hock

  • hocks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • hocking participle, present
  • hocked participle, past
  • hak

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

What does hock mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines.

  2. 2

    The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog.

    Anyway, you only have one golden retriever, SWORDDOG, and she is already armed to the hocks.

  3. 3

    Meat from that part of a food animal.

  4. 4

    The hollow behind the knee.

  5. 5

    informalPawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.

    He needed $750 to get his guitar out of hock at the pawnshop.

  6. 6

    informalDebt.

    They were in hock to the bank for $35 million.

  7. 7

    informalInstallment purchase.

  8. 8

    informalPrison.

  9. 9

    informalThe last card turned up in the game of faro.

  10. 10

    informalAlternative form of hawk (“cough”).

verb

  1. 1

    To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough.

  2. 2

    colloquialTo leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan.

  3. 3

    USinformalTo bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly.

  4. 4

    informalAlternative form of hawk (“cough, clear one's throat of phlegm”).

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

Hock in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchjarret (tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped)
GermanHaxe, Hachse (tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped), verpfänden, versetzen (leave with a pawnbroker as security)
Portuguesegâmbia (tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped)
Spanishcorvejón, jarrete, tarso, corvejos (tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped), empeñarse (leave with a pawnbroker as security), corva (hollow of the knee)

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 hock come from?

Clipping of hockamore, from German.

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

What to look up after hock