hot
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "hot", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "hot" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "hot" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
hot is anEnglishadj. It means: Relating to heat and conditions which produce it. Pronounced /hɒt/. It ranks #711 in English word frequency. Often confused with HR and HP.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hot |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /hɒt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #711 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hot is 3 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hɒt/. Corpus data places it at rank #711 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 26 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for hot in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "HR", "HP", "HQ", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hot, hat, from Old English hāt (“hot”), from Proto-West Germanic *hait, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“hot; to heat”). Cognate with Scots hate, hait (“hot”), North Frisian hiet (“hot”), Saterland F… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is hot, spelled H-O-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Relating to heat and conditions which produce it.
- 2Relating to heat and conditions which produce it.
- 3Relating to heat and conditions which produce it.
- 4Active, in use or ready for use (like a bullet or a firing range), turned on (like a microphone or camera).
- 5Active, in use or ready for use (like a bullet or a firing range), turned on (like a microphone or camera).
- 6Active, in use or ready for use (like a bullet or a firing range), turned on (like a microphone or camera).
- 7Relating to excited emotions.
- 8Relating to excited emotions.
- 9Relating to excited emotions.
- 10Relating to excited emotions.
- 11Relating to excited emotions.
- 12Relating to popularity, quality, or the state of being interesting.
- 13Relating to popularity, quality, or the state of being interesting.
- 14Relating to popularity, quality, or the state of being interesting.
- 15Relating to popularity, quality, or the state of being interesting.
- 16Relating to popularity, quality, or the state of being interesting.
- 17Relating to danger or risk.
- 18Relating to danger or risk.
- 19Relating to danger or risk.
- 20Relating to danger or risk.
- 21Relating to danger or risk.
- 22Very close to finding or guessing something to be found or guessed.
- 23Spicy, pungent, piquant, as some chilis and other spices are.
- 24Loud, producing a strong electric signal for the amplifier or other sound equipment.
- 25Used to emphasize the short duration or small quantity of something
- 26Extremely fast or with great speed.
Etymology
From Middle English hot, hat, from Old English hāt (“hot”), from Proto-West Germanic *hait, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“hot; to heat”). Cognate with Scots hate, hait (“hot”), North Frisian hiet (“hot”), Saterland Frisian heet (“hot”), West Frisian hjit (“hot”), Dutch heet (“hot”), German Low German heet (“hot”), German heiß (“hot”), Danish hed (“hot”), Swedish het (“hot”), Icelandic heitur (“hot”). Superseded non-native Middle English chaud, from Old French chaut (“hot”); and early Modern English calent, from Latin calēns (“hot”).
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #711 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index: