hue and cry
"hue-and-cry" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hue and cry” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The public pursuit of a criminal, accompanied by shouts to warn others to give chase.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hue-and-cry · hue and cry · English
hue and cry · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hue and cry |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “hue and cry” in English
Rare enough to double-check
hue and cry is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for hue and cry, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English heu and cri, from the Anglo-Norman legal phrase hu e cri. The correct English form is hue and cry, spelled H-U-E- -A-N-D- -C-R-Y.
Definition
- 1The public pursuit of a criminal, accompanied by shouts to warn others to give chase.
- 2A loud and persistent public clamour, especially one associated with protest or the making of some demand.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hue and cry appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Because he that firſt raiſeth a hue and cry, where no felony is committed, that is, he who giveth the falſe information, is ſeverely puniſhable by fine and impriſonment, if the information be falſe.
For the levying of hue and cry, although it is a good course to have a justice's warrant, where time will permit, in order to prevent causeless hue and cry; yet it is not necessary, nor always convenient; for the felon may escape before the warrant be obtained.
Etymology
From Middle English heu and cri, from the Anglo-Norman legal phrase hu e cri.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.