honor
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "honor", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "honor" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "honor" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
honor is aEnglishnoun. It means: Recognition of importance or value; respect; veneration (of someone, usually for being morally upright or successful). Pronounced /ˈɒn.ə/. It ranks #2,076 in English word frequency. Often confused with hoo and hor.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | honor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɒn.ə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,076 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for honor is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɒn.ə/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,076 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for honor, with forms such as "hhonor", "hnoor", and "honnor". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hoo", "hor", "hour", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor. Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”). The verb is from Middle English honouren, honu… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is honor, spelled H-O-N-O-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Recognition of importance or value; respect; veneration (of someone, usually for being morally upright or successful).
- 2The state of being morally upright, honest, noble, virtuous, and magnanimous; excellence of character; the perception of such a state; favourable reputation; dignity.
- 3A token of praise or respect; something that represents praiseworthiness or respect, such as a prize or award given by the state to a citizen.
- 4A privilege (which honors the person experiencing it).
- 5The privilege of going first.
- 6The privilege of going first.
- 7A cause of respect and fame; a glory; an excellency; an ornament.
- 8A seigniory or lordship held of the king, on which other lordships and manors depended.
- 9The center point of the upper half of an armorial escutcheon (compare honour point).
- 10In bridge, an ace, king, queen, jack, or ten especially of the trump suit; in some other games, an ace, king, queen or jack.
- 11In bridge, an ace, king, queen, jack, or ten especially of the trump suit; in some other games, an ace, king, queen or jack.
- 12(Courses for) an honours degree: a university qualification of the highest rank.
Etymology
From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor. Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”). The verb is from Middle English honouren, honuren (“to honor”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhonor,hnoor,honnor,honorr,honro,hoonr,ohnor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for honor
Misspelling Variants of "honor"
Frequency rank: #2,076 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index: