horsehair
noun
horsehair is spelled H-O-R-S-E-H-A-I-R: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 80,453rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, horsehair means “The hair of a horse, especially from the mane and tail, used for upholstery” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of horsehair is horsehairs.
How many letters and syllables are in horsehair?
| Letters | 9: H-O-R-S-E-H-A-I-R |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 80,453rd 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 horsehair?
Horsehair appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 80,453rd 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).
Forms of horsehair
- horsehairs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does horsehair mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The hair of a horse, especially from the mane and tail, used for upholstery.
- 2
A fabric made from this.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Horsehair in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense hair of a horse, from its mane or tail:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | crin |
| German | Rosshaar |
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 horsehair come from?
From Middle English hors her, horshere, hors-here, hors heer (also hors-hore), equivalent to horse + hair. Compare Old Norse hross-hár (“horsehair”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).