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hood

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "hood", 4-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 "hood" 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 "hood" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

hood is aEnglishnoun. It means: A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak. Pronounced /hʊd/. It ranks #5,051 in English word frequency. Often confused with how and hot.

Key facts for hood
PropertyValue
Headwordhood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hʊd/
Letters4
Frequency rank#5,051
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of hood in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for hood is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hʊd/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,051 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for hood, with forms such as "hhood", "hodo", and "hoodd". 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, "how", "hot", "hop", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian/Dutch hoed (“hat”… 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 hood, spelled H-O-O-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
  2. 2
    A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
  3. 3
    A distinctively colored fold of material, representing a university degree.
  4. 4
    An enclosure that protects something, especially from above.
  5. 5
    Particular parts of conveyances
  6. 6
    Particular parts of conveyances
  7. 7
    Particular parts of conveyances
  8. 8
    Particular parts of conveyances
  9. 9
    Particular parts of conveyances
  10. 10
    Various body parts
  11. 11
    Various body parts
  12. 12
    Various body parts
  13. 13
    Various body parts

Etymology

From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian/Dutch hoed (“hat”), Cimbrian huat, huut (“hat”), German Hut (“hat”), German Low German Hood (“hat; hood”), Luxembourgish Hutt (“hat”); also Proto-Iranian *xawdaH (“hat”) (Avestan 𐬑𐬂𐬛𐬀 (xåda), Old Persian 𐎧𐎢𐎭 (x-u-d /⁠xaudā⁠/)). More at hat.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: hhood,hodo,hoodd,ohod

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hood

Misspelling Variants of "hood"

hhood5hodo4hoodd5ohod4
Misspelling Variants of "hood"

Frequency rank: #5,051 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hood"?
"hood" is spelled H-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /hʊd/.
What does "hood" mean?
As a noun, "hood" means: A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
What words are commonly confused with "hood"?
"hood" is commonly confused with "how", "hot", "hop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hood"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hood" is /hʊd/. 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 "hood"?
From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian/Dutch h... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.