# hound

> English word · Noun · IPA /haʊnd/ · frequency rank #16,494

## Definitions
1. A dog, particularly a breed with a good sense of smell developed for hunting other animals.
2. Any canine animal.
3. Someone who seeks something.
4. A male who constantly seeks the company of desirable women.
5. A despicable person.
6. A houndfish.

## Etymology
From Middle English hound, from Old English hund, from Proto-West Germanic *hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz, from pre-Germanic *ḱuntós (compare Latvian sùnt-ene (“big dog”), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”). Doublet of canine.
In 14th-century England, hound was the general word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype resembling the modern mastiff and bulldog. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, and hound had begun to refer only to breeds used for hunting.

## Easily confused with
- **hun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hun)
- **HUD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hud)
- **hour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hour)
- **hunt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hunt)
- **hung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hung)
- **Hyun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hyun)
- **hunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hunk)
- **Hurd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hurd)
- **Huns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-huns)
- **hued** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hued)
- **house** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-house)
- **hours** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hours)
- **how'd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-how-d)
- **hyung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hyung)
- **housed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-housed)
- **hounds** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hounds)
- **hounded** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hound-vs-hounded)
- **hon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hon-vs-hound)
- **Hou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hou-vs-hound)
- **hod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hound)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hhound`, `honud`, `houdn`, `houndd`, `hounnd`, `huond`, `ohund`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hound