# Install hunspell with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, winget, zypper Spell checker and morphological analyzer. Version 1.7.3 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-08. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:hunspell ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install hunspell ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install hunspell ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: textproc/hunspell/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add hunspell ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: hunspell from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install hunspell ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: hunspell from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install hunspell ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: hunspell from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#hunspell ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/hu/hunspell/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S hunspell ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: hunspell from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install hunspell ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: hunspell from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ### Windows - winget (92%): ```sh winget install --id FSFhu.Hunspell -e ``` Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: FSFhu.Hunspell from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:hunspell - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 1.7.3 - **Source summary:** Spell checker and morphological analyzer - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** MPL-1.1 OR GPL-2.0-or-later OR LGPL-2.1-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-05-08T19:07:41Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - affixcompress (cli) - analyze (cli) - chmorph (cli) - hunspell (cli) - hunzip (cli) - hzip (cli) - ispellaff2myspell (cli) - makealias (cli) - munch (cli) - unmunch (cli) - wordforms (cli) - wordlist2hunspell (cli) - affixcompress (alias) - analyze (alias) - chmorph (alias) - hunspell (alias) - hunzip (alias) - hzip (alias) - ispellaff2myspell (alias) - makealias (alias) - munch (alias) - unmunch (alias) - wordforms (alias) - wordlist2hunspell (alias) ## Dependencies - gettext - readline ## Build dependencies - coreutils - gettext ## Uses from macOS - ncurses ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Caveats: Dictionary files (*.aff and *.dic) should be placed in ~/Library/Spelling/ or /Library/Spelling/. Homebrew itself provides no dictionaries for Hunspell, but you can download compatible dictionaries from other sources, such as https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/dictionaries/tree/ . - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 1.7.3 - Package-manager updated: 2026-05-08 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/hunspell/hunspell - info: No cached GitHub release or tag data was available. ## Project history and usage Hunspell is a spell checker, morphological analyzer, library, and command-line tool. Its official materials describe support for Unicode, compounding, complex morphology, stemming, morphological generation, custom dictionaries, an Ispell-like terminal interface, pipe mode, and C/C++ APIs. ### Project history Hunspell's code base descends from OpenOffice.org's MySpell library by Kevin Hendricks, which the Hunspell README describes as a C++ reimplementation of Geoff Kuenning's International Ispell spell checking and affixation work. László Németh developed Hunspell's main library and command-line features, extending the MySpell lineage with richer morphology, compounding, affix handling, suggestion logic, and language-specific behavior. The official site records project sponsorship history, including Budapest Technical University Media Research Centre support in 2003-2005 and FSF.hu Foundation sponsorship, and the AUTHORS file names László Németh as author, Kevin Hendricks as MySpell author, and Caolán McNamara as maintainer and distinguished contributor. ### Adoption history Hunspell became infrastructure rather than just a standalone command. The official site says it is used by LibreOffice, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, Google Chrome, macOS, InDesign, memoQ, Opera, SDL Trados, Linux distributions, and other tools. The batch metadata also shows broad package-manager coverage across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, MacPorts, Nix, Alpine, winget, and related ecosystems. ### How it is used Command-line users run `hunspell` interactively, in pipe mode, or against files with dictionaries made of `.aff` and `.dic` files. Developers use libhunspell through C/C++ APIs and language bindings, while dictionary maintainers use companion tools such as affixcompress, unmunch, wordforms, wordlist2hunspell, analyze, and related utilities. ### Why package nerds care For package nerds, Hunspell is a deep dependency hiding in plain sight: a spell-checking engine packaged as both CLI and library, with dictionaries often shipped separately and consumed by office suites, browsers, editors, NLP tools, and operating systems. It is also a reminder that language support packages often matter as much as the executable package itself. ### Timeline - 2003-2005: Official site records BME MOKK sponsorship of Hunspell development. - 2015: hunspell/hunspell GitHub repository created. - 2016: v1.4.0 release published in GitHub Releases metadata. - 2018: v1.7.0 release published with suggestion, SPELLML, morphology, and compounding improvements. - 2026: v1.7.3 release notes record security, fuzzing, Unicode, build, and correctness fixes. ### Related projects - Related projects include MySpell, International Ispell, OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Chrome, macOS spelling services, Enchant, Weblate translations, and Hunspell/MySpell dictionary repositories. ### Sources - Official Hunspell site, repository README, AUTHORS, NEWS, GitHub repository and release metadata, and Homebrew package metadata supplied in the batch input. ## Security Notes No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for hunspell. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL. ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** hunspell - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Conflicts With:** freeling - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - hunspell - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10+b4: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: hunspell from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (program) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Debian apt - hunspell-tools - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10+b4: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: hunspell-tools from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | tools for hunspell | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Debian apt - libhunspell-1.7-0 - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10+b4: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libhunspell-1.7-0 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (shared library) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Debian apt - libhunspell-dev - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10+b4: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libhunspell-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (development) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Debian apt - libhunspell-private-dev - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libhunspell-private-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (private headers) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Nix - hunspell: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/hu/hunspell/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - hunspell - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: hunspell from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (program) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Ubuntu apt - hunspell-tools - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: hunspell-tools from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | tools for hunspell | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Ubuntu apt - libhunspell-1.7-0 - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libhunspell-1.7-0 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (shared library) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Ubuntu apt - libhunspell-dev - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libhunspell-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (development) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - Ubuntu apt - libhunspell-private-dev - 1.7.2+really1.7.2-10build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libhunspell-private-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | spell checker and morphological analyzer (private headers) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - apk - hunspell - 1.7.3-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: hunspell from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program | https://hunspell.github.io/ - apk - hunspell-dev - 1.7.3-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: hunspell-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program (development files) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - apk - hunspell-doc - 1.7.3-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: hunspell-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program (documentation) | https://hunspell.github.io/ - apk - hunspell-lang - 1.7.3-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: hunspell-lang from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Languages for package hunspell | https://hunspell.github.io/ - apk - libhunspell - 1.7.3-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: libhunspell from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program (libraries) | https://hunspell.github.io/ ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Developer build packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/developer-build-tools/) - Matched build, compiler, generator, or developer workflow metadata. - [gettext](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gettext/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [coreutils](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/coreutils/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [cargo-spellcheck](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cargo-spellcheck/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [bsdconv](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/bsdconv/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, text-processing. - [gspell](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gspell/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, spell-checking. - [libchardet](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libchardet/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, text-processing. - [libunicode](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libunicode/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, library, text-processing. - [pyspelling](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pyspelling/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, spell-checker, spell-checking. - [scws](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/scws/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, nlp, text-processing. - [align](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/align/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, text-processing. - [cconv](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cconv/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, developer-tools, text-processing. - [recode](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/recode/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, developer, developer-tools, gettext, processing. - [rpl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rpl/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, developer, developer-tools, gettext, processing. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/hunspell.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/hunspell.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph