hooray
/həˈɹeɪ/interjection, noun, verb
hooray is spelled H-O-O-R-A-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is horray: about 340 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Hooray is an interjection meaning “Used to express approval, joy or victory”.
How many letters and syllables are in hooray?
| Letters | 6: H-O-O-R-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.6 times per million words; the 22,362nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, horray, about 340 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell hooray?
Hooray is spelled H-O-O-R-A-Y. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for hooray in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is hooray?
Hooray appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd 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 hooray?
- /həˈɹeɪ/
- /hʊˈɹeɪ/
- /ˈhuːɹeɪ/
Hooray has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-Hooray.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-hooray.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with hooray
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: hurray.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of hooray
- hurray
- hurrah
- huzzah
- hoorah
- hooroo
- hoorays plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- hooraying participle, present
- hoorayed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hooray mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
interjection
- 1
Used to express approval, joy or victory.
Lizzie has broken a world record, and she is now an Olympic medallist! – Hooray!
- 2
Australiacolloquialgoodbye.
noun
- 1
A shout to signify victory.
- 2
An expression of excitement.
- 3
UKcolloquialderogatoryEllipsis of Hooray Henry.
verb
- 1
To shout an expression of excitement.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hooray in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hourra ! |
| German | hurra! , Hurra , Hurra rufen |
| Portuguese | viva! , viva , vivar |
| Spanish | ¡hurra!, ¡viva!, olé |
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 hooray come from?
Unknown, first attested in the late 17th c.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).