hork
/ˈhɔː(ɹ)k/
"hork" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hork” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To foul up; to be occupied with difficulty, tangle, or unpleasantness; to be broken.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hork · hork · English
hork · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hork |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈhɔː(ɹ)k/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hork” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hork is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈhɔː(ɹ)k/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.
hork has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Onomatopoeia or imitative. For “cough up” sense, compare hawk/hock (16th century), which are almost homophonous in non-rhotic accents. For “throw” sense, compare huck. The “foul up” sense is presumably influenced by bork (late 1990s), from broken. The “stea… The correct English form is hork, spelled H-O-R-K.
Definition
- 1To foul up; to be occupied with difficulty, tangle, or unpleasantness; to be broken.
- 2To steal, especially petty theft or misnomer in jest.
- 3To vomit, cough up.
- 4To gulp
- 5To gulp Don't just hork it down!
- 6To throw.
- 7To eat hastily or greedily; to gobble.
- 8To move.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hork appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I downloaded the program, but something is horked and it won't load.
Can I hork that code from you for my project?
Etymology
Onomatopoeia or imitative. For “cough up” sense, compare hawk/hock (16th century), which are almost homophonous in non-rhotic accents. For “throw” sense, compare huck. The “foul up” sense is presumably influenced by bork (late 1990s), from broken. The “steal” sense may be related to hook, which has the same slang meaning.
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.