humph
/h(ʌ)mf/
"humph" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“humph” is uncommon English (frequency #76,867 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,867
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sound, usually made with a closed mouth pouting, indicating annoyance, indignation, disapproval, doubt, or sighing.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | humph |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /h(ʌ)mf/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #76,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “humph” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
humph is uncommon English at frequency #76,867 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /h(ʌ)mf/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A sound, usually made with a closed mouth pouting, indicating annoyance, indignation, disapproval, doubt, or sighing.".
humph has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: A natural utterance, first recorded in the mid-16th century. The correct English form is humph, spelled H-U-M-P-H.
Definition
- 1A sound, usually made with a closed mouth pouting, indicating annoyance, indignation, disapproval, doubt, or sighing.
Etymology
A natural utterance, first recorded in the mid-16th century.
Synonyms
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); 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
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Using “humph”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M-P-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /h(ʌ)mf/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.