hoist
/hɔɪst/verb, noun
hoist is spelled H-O-I-S-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, hoist means “To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hoist?
| Letters | 5: H-O-I-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,745th 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; 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 hoist?
Hoist appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th 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 hoist?
- /hɔɪst/
Hoist has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hoist.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with hoist
Also written: hist.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with hoist?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as hoist.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: histo.
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 hoist
- hoists present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- hoisting participle, present
- hoisted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hoist mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).
- 2
To lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.
- 3
To lift someone up to be flogged.
- 4
To be lifted up.
- 5
To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
- 6
slangTo steal.
- 7
slangTo rob.
noun
- 1
Any member of certain classes of devices that hoist things.
- 2
The act of hoisting; a lift.
Give me a hoist over that wall.
- 3
The triangular vertical position of a flag, as opposed to the flying state, or triangular vertical position of a sail, when flying from a mast.
- 4
The position of a flag (on a mast) or of a sail on a ship when lifted up to its highest level.
- 5
The position of a main fore-and-aft topsail on a ship and fore fore-and-aft topsail on a ship.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hoist in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hisser |
| German | hochziehen, hissen, hieven, aufziehen, aufhissen, aufheißen |
| Portuguese | içar, hastear |
| Spanish | izar , aparejo, polispasto, cabria |
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 hoist come from?
Alteration of earlier hoise (“to hoist”), apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen (“to hoist”). Compare modern Dutch hijsen (“to hoist”), German hissen (“to hoist”), Danish hejse (“to hoist”). Compare also French hisser (“to hoist”), Galician isar (“to hoist”), Spanish izar (“to hoist”), Catalan hissar (“to hoist”), Italian issare (“to hoist”), Portuguese içar (“to hoist”), Sicilian jisari (“to hoist”), all borrowed from a Germanic source.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).