Hong Kong
/ˌhɒŋˈkɒŋ/
"hong-kong" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Hong Kong” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A city and special administrative region in southeastern China, located on an island east of the Pearl River delta in the South China Sea; a former British colony.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Hong Kong |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˌhɒŋˈkɒŋ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Hong Kong” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Hong Kong is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˌhɒŋˈkɒŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Hong Kong, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong²)bor. English Hong Kong An irregular romanization of Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong², “incense harbor”), the former name of a settlement in what is now Aberdeen on the southwest side of Hong Kong Island, where joss stick … The correct English form is Hong Kong, spelled H-O-N-G- -K-O-N-G.
Definition
- 1A city and special administrative region in southeastern China, located on an island east of the Pearl River delta in the South China Sea; a former British colony.
- 2An island in southeastern China, Hong Kong Island, the site of the city of the same name, lying off Guangdong (Canton) province.
- 3A special administrative region of China, which includes the city and island of the same name as well as nearby islands and the Kowloon Peninsula.
- 4A former British colony in 1843–1941 and 1945–1981 and then British Dependent Territory in 1981–1997 in modern southern China in the area of modern Hong Kong.
Etymology
Etymology tree Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong²)bor. English Hong Kong An irregular romanization of Cantonese 香港 (hoeng¹ gong², “incense harbor”), the former name of a settlement in what is now Aberdeen on the southwest side of Hong Kong Island, where joss stick incense was stored for export, made from agarwood.
Synonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Hong Kong”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-N-G- -K-O-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌhɒŋˈkɒŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.