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PlainSpell

hover

hov·er/ˈhʌvɚ/verb, noun

hover is spelled H-O-V-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables (hov·er). It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, hover means “To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in hover?

Letters5: H-O-V-E-R
Syllables2: hov·er
In writing1.8 times per million words; the 20,629th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is hover?

Hover appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th 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 hover?

  • UK /ˈhɒvə/
  • UK /ˈhʌvə/
  • US /ˈhʌvɚ/

Hover has 2 syllables, split hov·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hover.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Simplificationalizer-hover.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with hover?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hover from its last stressed vowel (/ʌvəɹ/):

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 hover

  • hovers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • hovering participle, present
  • hovered participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does hover mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.

  2. 2

    Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).

  3. 3

    obsoleteOf a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.

  4. 4

    To remain stationary or float in the air.

    The hummingbird hovered by the plant.

  5. 5

    Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner.

    His pen hovered above the paper.

  6. 6

    To be indecisive or uncertain; to vacillate, to waver.

    Filling in the voting form, I hovered between Labour and Liberal Democrat.

  7. 7

    Chiefly followed by over: to use a mouse or other device to place a cursor over something on a screen such as a hyperlink or icon without clicking, so as to produce a result (such as the appearance of a tooltip).

    A tooltip appears when you hover over this link.

  8. 8

    To travel in a hovercraft as it moves above a water surface.

noun

  1. 1

    An act, or the state, of remaining stationary in the air or some other place.

  2. 2

    A flock of birds fluttering in the air in one place.

  3. 3

    An act, or the state, of being suspended; a suspension.

  4. 4

    A cover; a protection; a shelter; specifically, an overhanging bank or stone under which fish can shelter; also, a shelter for hens brooding their eggs.

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

Hover in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanschwebend halten (to keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a…), behüten (of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body…), rütteln, schweben, stillstehen (in der Luft) (to remain stationary or float in the air), verweilen (to hang around or linger in a place, especially…)
Frenchéventiller, planer (to remain stationary or float in the air), faire du sur-place (to hang around or linger in a place, especially…), hésiter (to be indecisive or uncertain – see also…)
Portuguesepairar (to remain stationary or float in the air), voltear (to hang around or linger in a place, especially…), hesitar, vacilar (to be indecisive or uncertain – see also…)
Spanishcernerse, levitar, revolotear, revoletear (to remain stationary or float in the air), rondar (to hang around or linger in a place, especially…), colocar el puntero sobre (to use a mouse or other device to place a…)

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 hover come from?

The verb is derived from Middle English hoveren (“to float in the air, hover; to stay”), probably from hoven (“hover; of a bird: to fly high in the air, soar”) (which it displaced) + -er- (frequentative suffix). Hoven is probably derived from Old English *hōfian, from hōfon, the plural past indicative form of hebban (“to lift, raise”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift; to heave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to hold, seize”).

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

What to look up after hover