hypocrisy
/hɪˈpɑkɹəsi/noun
hypocrisy is spelled H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is hypocracy: about 390 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Hypocrisy is a noun meaning “The contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations…”. The plural of hypocrisy is hypocrisies.
How many letters and syllables are in hypocrisy?
| Letters | 9: H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, hypocracy, about 390 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy is spelled H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for hypocrisy in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce hypocrisy?
- UK /hɪˈpɒkɹəsi/
- US /hɪˈpɑkɹəsi/
Hypocrisy has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-hypocrisy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with hypocrisy?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hypocrisy from its last stressed vowel (/ɑkɹəsi/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of hypocrisy
- hypocrisies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hypocrisy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations, especially with respect to religious and moral beliefs; hence in general sense, dissimulation, pretence, sham.
political hypocrisy
- 2
The claim or pretense of having beliefs, standards, qualities, behaviours, virtues, motivations, etc. which one does not really have.
rank hypocrisy
- 3
The practice of engaging in the same behaviour or activity for which one criticises another; moral self-contradiction whereby the behavior of one or more people belies their own claimed or implied possession of certain beliefs, standards or virtues.
- 4
An instance of hypocrisy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hypocrisy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hypocrisie, faux-culterie, tartuferie, tartufferie |
| German | Heuchelei, Scheinheiligkeit, Hypokrisie, Tartüfferie , Doppelmoral |
| Portuguese | hipocrisia |
| Spanish | hipocresía |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hypocrisy come from?
From hypo- + Ancient Greek κρί(σις) (krí(sis)) + -isy. From Middle English ipocrisie, from Old French ypocrisie, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Ancient Greek ὑπόκρισις (hupókrisis, “answer, stage acting, pretense”), from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai, “I answer (a fellow actor on stage), play a part, dissemble, feign”), from ὑπό (hupó, “under, equivalent of the modern "hypo-" prefix”) + the middle voice of κρίνω (krínō, “I separate, judge, decide”) + -isy. Displaced native Old English līċettung.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).