Skip to main content
PlainSpell

hot

/hɑt/adjective, adverb, verb, noun

hot is spelled H-O-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, hot means “Having or giving off a high temperature” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in hot?

Letters3: H-O-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing145 times per million words; the 711th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is hot?

Hot appears 145 times per million words in written English, the 711th 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 hot?

  • UK /hɒt/
  • British /hɔt/
  • US /hɑt/

Hot has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-hot.ogg, En-us-hot.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with hot?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hot from its last stressed vowel (/ɑt/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tho, toh.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of hot

  • hotter comparative
  • hottest superlative
  • hots present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • hotting participle, present
  • hotted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does hot mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Having or giving off a high temperature.

    He forgot that the frying pan was hot and burned his hand.

  2. 2

    Feeling the sensation of heat, especially to the point of discomfort.

    I was so hot from being in the sun too long.

  3. 3

    Feverish; feeling a high fever.

  4. 4

    Active, in use or ready for use (like a bullet or a firing range), turned on (like a microphone or camera).

  5. 5

    USElectrically charged.

    a hot wire

  6. 6

    informalRadioactive.

  7. 7

    In active use at or near capacity.

    We need to keep the old drone production line going while it's still hot, or it'll be difficult to restart it.

  8. 8

    Easily provoked to anger.

    Be careful, he has a hot temper and may take it out on you.

adverb

  1. 1

    Hotly; at a high temperature.

  2. 2

    Rapidly, quickly.

  3. 3

    While shooting, while firing one's weapon(s).

    to come in hot; to go in hot

verb

  1. 1

    To heat; to make or become hot.

  2. 2

    To become lively or exciting.

noun

  1. 1

    A hot meal, usually in the phrase "three hots" (i.e. three hot meals per day) or derivations such as three hots and a cot.

noun

as HOT
  1. 1

    Acronym of hybrid-orientation technology (“CMOS fabrication technology that uses PMOS and NMOS substrates with differing orientations”).

  2. 2

    Acronym of hybrid-orientation technique, a technique that applies the technology.

  3. 3

    Acronym of high-output turbo (turbocharger).

  4. 4

    Acronym of high occupancy or toll lane.

  5. 5

    Initialism of health over time: a status effect that restores health points as time passes.

adjective

as HOT
  1. 1

    Acronym of high occupancy or toll.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Hot in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchaud, très chaud (having a high temperature), faire chaud (of the weather), fiévreux (feverish – see also febrile, ardent), épicé, piquant (spicy)
Germanheiß (having a high temperature), warm (of the weather), scharf, würzig (spicy)
Portuguese(muito) quente (having a high temperature), quente, fazer calor (of the weather), febril (feverish – see also febrile, ardent), estar com calor (feeling the sensation of heat)
Spanishcaliente, calientísimo, calentísimo (having a high temperature), caluroso, cálido, hacer calor (of the weather)

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 hot come from?

From Middle English hot, hoot, from Old English hāt (“hot”), from Proto-West Germanic *hait, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“to heat; to become hot”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after hot