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hyacinth

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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8 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "hyacinth", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "hyacinth" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "hyacinth" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

hyacinth is aEnglishnoun. It means: Any bulbous plant of the genus Hyacinthus, native to the Mediterranean and South Africa. Pronounced /ˈhaɪəsɪnθ/.

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Key facts for hyacinth
PropertyValue
Headwordhyacinth
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈhaɪəsɪnθ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#40,287
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of hyacinth in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for hyacinth is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhaɪəsɪnθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,287 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for hyacinth, with forms such as "haycinth", "hhyacinth", and "hyaccinth". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English jacinth, partly from Old French jacincte, from Medieval Latin jacintus, and partly from Old English iacinþ, from Medieval Latin jacinthus, both from Latin hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek ὑάκινθος (huákinthos, “any of several dark blue flo… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is hyacinth, spelled H-Y-A-C-I-N-T-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any bulbous plant of the genus Hyacinthus, native to the Mediterranean and South Africa.
  2. 2
    A variety of zircon, ranging in color from brown, orange, reddish-brown and yellow; a jacinth.

Etymology

From Middle English jacinth, partly from Old French jacincte, from Medieval Latin jacintus, and partly from Old English iacinþ, from Medieval Latin jacinthus, both from Latin hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek ὑάκινθος (huákinthos, “any of several dark blue flowers”), ultimately from a non-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Re-Latinized in the 16th century.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: haycinth,hhyacinth,hyaccinth,hyacinht,hyacinnth,hyacinthh,hyacintth,hyacitnh,hyacnith,hyaicnth,hycainth,hyyacinth,yhacinth

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for hyacinth

Misspelling Variants of "hyacinth"

haycinth8hhyacinth9hyaccinth9hyacinht8hyacinnth9hyacinthh9hyacintth9hyacitnh8
Misspelling Variants of "hyacinth"

Frequency rank: #40,287 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hyacinth"?
"hyacinth" is spelled H-Y-A-C-I-N-T-H. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhaɪəsɪnθ/.
What does "hyacinth" mean?
As a noun, "hyacinth" means: Any bulbous plant of the genus Hyacinthus, native to the Mediterranean and South Africa.
What are common misspellings of "hyacinth"?
Common misspellings include "haycinth", "hhyacinth", "hyaccinth", "hyacinht", "hyacinnth". The correct spelling is "hyacinth".
How do you pronounce "hyacinth"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hyacinth" is /ˈhaɪəsɪnθ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "hyacinth"?
From Middle English jacinth, partly from Old French jacincte, from Medieval Latin jacintus, and partly from Old English iacinþ, from Medieval Latin jacinthus, both from Latin hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek ὑάκινθος (huákinthos, “any of several dar... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.