hydrogen
/ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/
"hydrogen" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hydrogen” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,349. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,349
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hydrogen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #7,349 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hydrogen” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around hydrogen (IPA /ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,349 among 23,837 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for hydrogen, with forms such as "hdyrogen", "hhydrogen", and "hyddrogen". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French hydrogène (“hydrogen”), coined by the French chemists Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau (1737–1816) and Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) from hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gène (suffix denoting a producer of something), from the fact th… The correct English form is hydrogen, spelled H-Y-D-R-O-G-E-N.
Definition
- 1The lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
- 2The lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
- 3Molecular hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H₂), a colourless, odourless and flammable gas at room temperature.
- 4Molecular hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H₂), a colourless, odourless and flammable gas at room temperature.
- 5Synonym of protium (“the lightest and most common isotope of hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H, ¹H, or 11H), as contrasted with deuterium and tritium”).
Etymology
Borrowed from French hydrogène (“hydrogen”), coined by the French chemists Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau (1737–1816) and Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) from hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gène (suffix denoting a producer of something), from the fact that water is produced as a compound when hydrogen is oxidized. * The prefix hydro- is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-), from ῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr, “water”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). * The suffix -gène is borrowed from Ancient Greek -γενής (-genḗs, suffix meaning ‘born in a certain condition or place’), from γένος (génos, “descendant, offspring; race; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, produce; to give birth”)) + -ης (-ēs, suffix forming some third-declension adjectives). By surface analysis, hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gen (suffix denoting a producer of something).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hdyrogen
- hhydrogen
- hyddrogen
- hydorgen
- hydrgoen
- hydroegn
- hydrogenn
- hydroggen
- hydrogne
- hydrrogen
- hyrdogen
- hyydrogen
- yhdrogen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hydrogen - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “hydrogen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-Y-D-R-O-G-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/ (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
Same frequency band
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.