hornswoggle
horn·swog·gle/ˈhɔɹn.swɑ.ɡəl/verb, noun
hornswoggle is spelled H-O-R-N-S-W-O-G-G-L-E: 11 letters and 3 syllables (horn·swog·gle). It appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, hornswoggle means “To deceive or trick” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hornswoggle?
| Letters | 11: H-O-R-N-S-W-O-G-G-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: horn·swog·gle |
| In writing | about once in every 20 million words; the 134,976th 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 hornswoggle?
Hornswoggle appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th 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 hornswoggle?
- UK /ˈhɔːn.swɒɡ.əl/
- US /ˈhɔɹn.swɑ.ɡəl/
Hornswoggle has 3 syllables, split horn·swog·gle in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hornswoggle.ogg, En-au-hornswoggle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hornswoggle
- hornswoggles present, singular, he/she/it
- hornswoggling participle, present
- hornswoggled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hornswoggle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
slangTo deceive or trick.
Don't let them hornswoggle you into buying anything you don't need.
noun
- 1
slangnonsense; humbug
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does hornswoggle come from?
Unknown, 1829 US, jocular coinage like contemporary absquatulate. Presumably horns + waggle with humorous faux ablaut or combination with wobble (compare later woggle, 1923), perhaps inspired by lassoed steers trying to escape by moving their head.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).