hornfels
noun
hornfels is spelled H-O-R-N-F-E-L-S: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hornfels means “Any of a series of contact metamorphic rocks that have been baked and indurated by the heat of intrusive igneous masses and rendered massive, hard…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hornfels is hornfelses.
How many letters and syllables are in hornfels?
| Letters | 8: H-O-R-N-F-E-L-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 59 million words; the 240,237th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is hornfels?
Hornfels appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th 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 hornfels?
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-hornfels.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hornfels
- hornfelses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hornfels mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of a series of contact metamorphic rocks that have been baked and indurated by the heat of intrusive igneous masses and rendered massive, hard, splintery, and in some cases exceedingly tough and durable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hornfels in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense splintery metamorphic rock:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cornéenne |
| German | Hornfels |
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 hornfels come from?
Borrowed from German Hornfels, literally "horn stone", after its frequent association with glacial "horn peaks" in the Alps.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).