Do you know what the French h aspiré (or aspirated h) is? No? No worries, we have just what you need, and you’ll be in the know in a minute. If you click this nice navy blue button, that is:
If you are familiar with the concept, however, we can jump to the next phase of the process, which is actually learning the words starting with an aspirated h.
If you do that, you’ll never have doubts about French pronunciation when it comes to words beginning with the letter h.
To make that super simple for you, we have created a list of the ones that really count. You can find everything you might need on a single page.
This list was assembled with practicality in mind, so each of the words featured here is in common use today. Even more importantly: we made sure to include must-know words in the first and second tables.
The third one will show you the ones we deemed a touch less important to know, but which will still interest you if you’re here to fine-tune your French. Enjoy!
1. Absolutely essential French words starting with an aspirated h
| French word | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| haïr (v), la haine | to hate, hate (n) |
| hanter (v) | to haunt |
| harceler (v) | harass |
| hisser (v) | to hoist |
| hurler (v), le hurlement | to yell/howl, yell/ howl (n) |
| hors (preposition), hors- | apart from/ outside/ not including |
| huit, huitaine, huitante, huitième | eight, a week (yes, that’s right!), eighty (used in some Swiss cantons instead of quatre-vingts), eighth |
| la hanche, les hanches | hip, hips |
| la hâte | hurry, haste |
| la hauteur (noun), la hausse (noun), hausser (verb), haut (adjective) | height, raise/increase, to increase, high/tall |
| la hiérarchie, hiérarchiser (and other words starting with hiér-) | hierarchy, to rank/order sg |
| la honte, honteux | shame (n), ashamed/shameful (adj) |
| le hall | hall |
| le hamburger | hamburger |
| le hamster | hamster |
| le hasard | chance/ luck / fate |
| le héros | hero (you need to avoid the liaison to distinguish it from the word zéro in the plural – with the liaison, les héros would sound exactly like les zéros, because the letter h is not pronounced) |
| le hibou | owl |
| le hotdog/ le hot-dog | hot dog |
2. Common French words starting with an aspirated h
| French word | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| hacher (v) | to mince, grind (meat), chop (herbs) |
| hack (v), le hackeur, la hackeuse | to hack, hacker (with separate male and female forms in French) |
| haleter (v), le halètement | to pant, panting |
| hanter (v) | to haunt (ghost) |
| hautain (adj) | haughty |
| heurter (v) | to collide with, hit, run/ bump into |
| hideux (adj) | hideous/ unsightly |
| hocher (la tête) (v) | to nod/ to shake one’s head (yes, it can mean either! Check out our mini-explanation here) |
| hoqueter (v), le hoquet | to hiccup, hiccup |
| hormis (preposition) | apart from, except for |
| huer (v), la huée | to boo, booing |
| la hache | axe |
| la haie | hedge |
| la halte | stop, break, stopping place |
| la hiérarchie, hiérarchiser (v), hiérarchique (adj) | hierarchy, to rank/ class sg, hierarchical |
| la hutte | hut |
| le haillon (usually in the plural – haillons) | rag(s) |
| le handball, handballeur, handballeuse | handball, handball player |
| le hareng | herring |
| le hérisson | hedgehog |
| le hiéroglyphe (and other words starting with hiéro-) | hieroglyph |
| le hockey | hockey |
| le homard | lobster |
| le hors-d’œuvre | appetizer |
| le houx | holly |
| le hurlement, hurler | yell, to yell (wind: howl) |
| se hérisser, hérisser qn, hérissé | stand on end, bristle (usually said of an animal’s fur) / annoy, trouble sy / spiky, disheveled (someone’s hair) |
3. Less common French words with an aspirated h (that are still common enough to learn)
| French word | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| happer (v) | catch, snatch in its muzzle/ beak (an animal its prey) |
| hardi (adj), la hardiesse (n) | daring, adventurous (person) OR outlandish, extreme (thing, idea) / boldness (noun) |
| hululer (v) | hoot (owl) |
| huppé (adj) | posh |
| la halle | covered market |
| la hernie | hernia |
| la herse | candlestick |
| la hotte, hotter | sack, carry sg in a sack |
| la houille | coal |
| le hachoir | mincer |
| le hamac | hammock |
| le hameau | hamlet (small village) |
| le hand-ball | handball |
| le hangar | aircraft hangar/ warehouse/ depot (magasin and entrepôt are more common in everyday speech) |
| le hanneton | maybug |
| le hautbois | oboe/ oboe player |
| le henné | henna (plant used as a hair dye) |
| le hennissement, hennir (v) | neighing, neigh/whinny (horses), bray (to laugh noisily) |
| le héron | heron |
| le hertz | hertz (unit of frequency) |
| le hêtre | beech |
| le heurtoir | door-knocker |
| le hip-hop | hip-hop |
| le hiragana | hiragana |
| le hourra | hurrah/ hooray |
| le hublot | (airplane, boat, ship) window |
| le husky | husky (dog) |
Bonus: Country names, nationalities, and names starting with an aspirated h
| French word | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| Henri, Henry | Henri, Henry |
| Hesse | Hesse |
| Hollywood, hollywoodesque, hollywoodien/ hollywoodienne | Hollywood, Hollywood-like, from Hollywood |
| Hugo | Hugo |
| Hulk | Hulk |
| Hun, Huns | Hun, Huns |
| la Hiroshima | Hiroshima |
| la Hollande, le hollandais, hollandais/ hollandaise | the Netherlands, Dutch (language), Dutch (adjective) |
| la Hongrie, le hongrois, hongrois (adj) | Hungary, the Hungarian language, Hungarian (adjective) |
| les Habsburg | the Habsburgs |
Please note that there are some French words starting with an aspirated h we judged too rare to include here. Nevertheless, you can find these online if you’re curious – taking a look at this page would be a good start!