hie

^((h aspiré))\i\

/^((h aspiré))\i\/ noun

The verdict

“hie” is uncommon French (frequency #86,788 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,788
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Instrument servant à battre ou à enfoncer le pavé ou à damer le sol.

Corpus desk

Index FR-hie · hie · French

hie · rank #86,788 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #86,788
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH heurtées

Nearest frequency peer: heurtées (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « hie »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « hie » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for hie
PropertyValue
Headwordhie
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA^((h aspiré))\i\
Letters3
Frequency rank#86,788
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « hie » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).hietombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « heurtées » (#86,787), « highlight » (#86,789), « Hernández » (#86,785). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « hie » est au #86,788. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hie is uncommon French at frequency #86,788 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed ^((h aspiré))\i\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for hie in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is hie, spelled H-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Instrument servant à battre ou à enfoncer le pavé ou à damer le sol.
  2. 2
    Autre sorte d’instrument dont on se sert pour enfoncer les pilotis dans le sol.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how hie appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Les pavés étant ainsi posés ne sont pas assez enfoncés, et pourraient du reste prendre des tassements inégaux sous l'influence des charges ; aussi, vient-on les frapper sur la tête avec une hie ou demoiselle, du poids de 30 kilogrammes.

Synonyms

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hie"?
"hie" is spelled H-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is ^((h aspiré))\i\.
What does "hie" mean?
As a noun, "hie" means: Instrument servant à battre ou à enfoncer le pavé ou à damer le sol.
How do you pronounce "hie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hie" is ^((h aspiré))\i\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hie" come from?
"hie" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hie", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list