Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hair-splittingly

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.07 in modern English

Syllables: hair-s-plit-ting-ly
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

5

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

adv

In a hair-splitting way, characterized by exceedingly small differences, fine details, or edge cases of no seeming importance.

Example Sentences

"Nobody expected the vote to be so hair-splittingly close."

Etymology

Etymology tree English hair-splitting Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English hair-splittingly From hair-splitting + -ly.

Inflected Forms

more hair-splittingly (comparative) most hair-splittingly (superlative) hairsplittingly (alternative)

Questions

What does hair-splittingly mean?: In a hair-splitting way, characterized by exceedingly small differences, fine details, or edge cases of no seeming importance.
Where does hair-splittingly come from?: Etymology tree English hair-splitting Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English hair-splittingly From hair-splitting + -ly.

How to pronounce hair-splittingly

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