hertz

See also: Hertz

English

Etymology

Named after German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hɜːts/, /hɜːs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hɝts/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Homophone: hurts
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ts

Noun

hertz (plural hertz or hertzes)

2. In the International System of Units, the derived unit of frequency; one (period or cycle of any periodic event) per second.

   Alternative form: Hz (symbol)

   Synonyms: cycles per second, cps (deprecated), CPS (deprecated)

   Coordinate terms: counts per second, cps, CPS

   • 2017 December 12, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.3.5 Electrical Generation and Distribution System”, in Marine Accident Report: Sinking of US Cargo Vessel SS El Faro, Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island, Bahamas, October 1, 2015‎^[1], archived from the original on 15 May 2022, pages 36–37:

     Each turbogenerator consisted of a steam turbine, powered by 900 psi of superheated steam, that was coupled by a set of reduction gears to a General Electric marine alternating-current generator operating at 1,800 rpm. Each generator had a capacity of 2,000 kilowatts of three-phase power at 450 volts and 60 hertz. The main 450-volt switchboard was energized by the two turbogenerators. The emergency switchboard, in the emergency generator room, was fed from the main switchboard through an electrical tie.

Derived terms

• attohertz
• exahertz
• gigahertz
• microhertz
• millihertz
• nanohertz
• petahertz
• subhertz
• terahertz
• yottahertz
• zettahertz

Translations

the derived unit of frequency

• Arabic: هِيرْتِز m (hirtiz), هِرْتِز m (hirtiz)

  Hijazi Arabic: هِيرْتْز m (hērtz), هِرْتْز m (hirtz)

• Armenian: հերց (hy) (hercʻ)
• Belarusian: гэрц m (herc)
• Bulgarian: херц m (herc)
• Burmese: ဟတ်ဇ် (hatj)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 赫茲 / 赫兹 (haak¹ zi¹, hak¹ zi¹), 赫 (haak¹, hak¹) (short form)

  Hakka: 赫茲 / 赫兹 (hér-chṳ̀)

  Hokkien: 赫 (hek)

  Mandarin: 赫茲 / 赫兹 (zh) (hèzī), 赫 (zh) (hè) (short form)

• Czech: hertz (cs) m
• Danish: hertz (da) c
• Esperanto: herco
• Finnish: hertsi (fi)
• French: hertz (fr) m
• Georgian: ჰერცი (herci)
• German: Hertz (de) n
• Greek: χερτζ (el) n (chertz)
• Hebrew: הרץ (he)
• Hindi: हर्ट्ज़ (harṭz)
• Indonesian: hertz (id)
• Italian: hertz (it) m
• Japanese: ヘルツ (ja) (herutsu)
• Khmer: ហឺត (km) (həɨt)
• Korean: 헤르츠 (hereucheu)
• Latvian: hercs m
• Macedonian: херц m (herc)
• Malay: hertz
• Persian: هرتز (fa)
• Polish: herc (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: hertz (pt) m
• Russian: герц (ru) m (gerc)
• Serbo-Croatian: херц m, herc (sh) m
• Spanish: hercio (es) m, hertz m
• Swedish: hertz (sv) c
• Thai: เฮิรตซ์ (th) (hêrt), เฮิ้ด (hêrt)
• Ukrainian: герц m (herc)
• Urdu: ہرٹز (harṭz)
• Vietnamese: hertz (vi), héc (vi)

See also

• hertz on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦɛrt͡s]

Noun

hertz m inan

1. hertz (unit of frequency)

Declension

Declension of hertz (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	hertz	hertzy
genitive	hertzu	hertzů
dative	hertzu	hertzům
accusative	hertz	hertzy
vocative	hertze	hertzy
locative	hertzu	hertzech, hertzích
instrumental	hertzem	hertzy

Further reading

• “hertz”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “hertz”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Named after the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛrts/, [hæɐ̯d̥s]

Noun

hertz c (plural indefinite hertz)

1. hertz. Symbol: Hz

Derived terms

• kilohertz
• megahertz

Further reading

• hertz on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /ɛʁts/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁts

Noun

hertz m (invariable)

1. hertz

Related terms

• hertzien

Further reading

• “hertz”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Galician

Noun

hertz m (uncountable)

1. hertz

   Synonym: hercio

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛrt͡s/
• Rhymes: -ɛrts
• Hyphenation: hèrtz

Noun

hertz m (invariable)

1. (metrology, physics) hertz

Related terms

• hertziano

Further reading

• “hertz” in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• “Hertz” in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• “hertz” in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• “hèrtz” in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• hertz in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• “hertz”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Named after German physicist Heinrich Rufolf Hertz.

Noun

hertz m (definite singular hertzen, indefinite plural hertz, definite plural hertzane)

1. hertz (unit of frequency)

References

• “hertz” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hertz.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛʁts/ [ˈhɛhts], /ˈʁɛʁ.t͡ʃis/ [ˈhɛh.t͡ʃis]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛʁts/ [ˈhɛhts], /ˈʁɛʁ.t͡ʃis/ [ˈhɛh.t͡ʃis]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛɾts/ [ˈhɛɾts], /ˈʁɛɾ.t͡ʃis/ [ˈhɛɾ.t͡ʃis]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛʁt͡ʃ/ [ˈχɛχt͡ʃ], /ˈʁɛʁ.t͡ʃiʃ/ [ˈχɛχ.t͡ʃiʃ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛɻts/ [ˈhɛɻts], /ˈʁɛɻ.t͡ʃis/ [ˈhɛɻ.t͡ʃis]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɛɾt͡ʃ/

Noun

hertz m (invariable)

1. hertz (unit of frequency)

Further reading

• “hertz”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “hertz”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hertz or French hertz.

Noun

hertz m (plural hertzi)

1. hertz

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	hertz	hertzul	hertzi	hertzii
genitive-dative	hertz	hertzului	hertzi	hertzilor
vocative	hertzule		hertzilor

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hertz.

Noun

hertz m (plural hertz)

1. hertz

   Synonym: hercio

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “hertz”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Etymology

Named after German physicist Heinrich Hertz.

Pronunciation

• (broad) IPA^(key): /hærts/
• (retroflex dialects) IPA^(key): [hæʈʂ], [hɛʈʂ]

Noun

hertz c

1. hertz (singular and plural)