Hu
/hu/
"hu" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Hu” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,362 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #13,362
- frequency rank, English
- 2
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A common surname from Chinese of east Asian derivation.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Hu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /hu/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #13,362 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Hu” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Hu is 2 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hu/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,362 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A common surname from Chinese of east Asian derivation.".
No misspelling variants are generated for Hu in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hv", "huh", "hug", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Chinese 胡 (hú). Doublet of Wu. For less common variants, see Hu. The correct English form is Hu, spelled H-U.
Definition
- 1A common surname from Chinese of east Asian derivation.
Etymology
From Chinese 胡 (hú). Doublet of Wu. For less common variants, see Hu.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Hu"?
What does "Hu" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Hu"?
How do you pronounce "Hu"?
What is the origin of the word "Hu"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Hu”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hu/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hv” - see the side-by-side comparison. Hu vs hv
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.