hominy

/ˈhɒmɪni/

//ˈhɒmɪni// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"hominy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hominy” is uncommon English (frequency #96,058 among 2,646 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#96,058
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A food made from hulled corn (maize) kernels soaked in lye water, rinsed, then cooked and eaten; or, the rinsed kernels are dried and coarsely ground into hominy grits.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hominy · hominy · English

hominy · rank #96,058 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #96,058
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH homologue

Nearest frequency peer: homologue (+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 “hominy”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “hominy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for hominy
PropertyValue
Headwordhominy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈhɒmɪni/
Letters6
Frequency rank#96,058
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “hominy” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).hominyfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “homologue” (#96,059), “Heyes” (#96,055), “hetman” (#96,051). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “hominy” is #96,058. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hominy is uncommon English at frequency #96,058 among 2,646 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈhɒmɪni/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A food made from hulled corn (maize) kernels soaked in lye water, rinsed, then cooked and eaten; or, the rinsed kernels are dried and coarsely ground into hominy grits.".

hominy has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: First recorded in 1629. From Powhatan ("Virginia Algonquian"), though the exact source word is in question: suggestions include uskatahomen, appuminnéonash (“parched corn”), and rokohamin (“parched, ground corn”), the last yielding also the unclipped rockah… The correct English form is hominy, spelled H-O-M-I-N-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A food made from hulled corn (maize) kernels soaked in lye water, rinsed, then cooked and eaten; or, the rinsed kernels are dried and coarsely ground into hominy grits.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how hominy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Then his plate was put before him: hominy grits and a scrap of bacon. He wanted to cry, like a child: ‘But, Mama, it's my birthday!’

Etymology

First recorded in 1629. From Powhatan ("Virginia Algonquian"), though the exact source word is in question: suggestions include uskatahomen, appuminnéonash (“parched corn”), and rokohamin (“parched, ground corn”), the last yielding also the unclipped rockahominy.

This word in other languages

nixtamal(Español)maïs lessivé(Français)

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 "hominy"?
"hominy" is spelled H-O-M-I-N-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhɒmɪni/.
What does "hominy" mean?
As a noun, "hominy" means: A food made from hulled corn (maize) kernels soaked in lye water, rinsed, then cooked and eaten; or, the rinsed kernels are dried and coarsely ground into hominy grits.
How do you pronounce "hominy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hominy" is /ˈhɒmɪni/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "hominy"?
First recorded in 1629. From Powhatan ("Virginia Algonquian"), though the exact source word is in question: suggestions include uskatahomen, appuminnéonash (“parched corn”), and rokohamin (“parched, ground corn”), the last yielding also the unclip... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hominy", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hetman#96,051Hemant#96,047hurler#96,069Haroun#96,040

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list