"H" Word Origins

herriman

Origin

From the given name Herman.

herring

Old English

From Old English hǣring, a Germanic word of uncertain origin, possibly linked to "hair" because of the fish's fine bones.

Herriot

Origin

From a medieval diminutive of Henry.

Herrmann

Origin

From the German surname, variant of Hermann.

hers

Middle English

From Middle English hires/heres, formed from "her" plus the possessive ending "-s."

Herschel

Origin

(Uranus): after its discoverer, William Herschel.

herself

Middle English

From Middle English, formed from "her" plus "-self."

Hershel

Origin

Borrowed from Yiddish הירשעל (hirshel), a diminutive of הירש (hirsh, “deer, buck”).

Hershey

Origin

From Hercé in Normandy. The villages are named after The Hershey Company, which is named after its founder, Milton S. Hershey.

Hertfordshire

Middle English

From Middle English Hertfordschire; equivalent to Hertford + -shire.

hertz

German · 1857

Named after the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894), who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Herzog

German

From German Herzog, going back to Old High German herizogo, literally "army leader" — the person who led the troops (Heer) at the front (ziehen, "to march").

hes

Origin · 1990

A blend of "he" and "she," coined in the 1990s as part of a push for gender-neutral pronouns.

hesitant

Latin

Borrowed from Latin haesitans, the present participle of haesitare ("to hesitate, to stick fast").

hesitate

Latin

Borrowed from Latin haesitare ("to stick fast, to hesitate"), an intensive form of haerēre ("to stick, cling").

hesitation

Latin

From Latin haesitātiō ("a stammering, hesitating"), from haesitare ("to hesitate").

hesperian

Origin

From Latin Hesperius + -ian.

hesperus

Origin

From Latin Hesperus, from Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos, “pertaining to the evening, western”).

Hesse

German

Borrowed from German Hesse.

hessian

Origin

From Hesse + -ian. Doublet of hessian.

Hester

Latin

From the Latin form of the name Esther.

hesternal

Origin

From Latin hesternus (“of or pertaining to yesterday; yesterday’s”) + English -al (suffix forming adjectives).

hestia

Origin

From Ancient Greek Ἑστία (Hestía), from ἑστία (hestía, “hearth”).

Heston

Old English

From Old English hǣs ("brushwood") plus tūn ("settlement, farm").

het

Origin

A clipped form of "heterosexual."

heta

Origin

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἧτᾰ (hêtă).

hetero

Origin

A clipped, informal form of "heterosexual."

heterobiography

Origin

From hetero- + biography.

heteroclite

Origin

From Late Latin heteroclitus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερόκλιτος (heteróklitos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + κλίνω (klínō, “lean, incline”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley-.

heterodox

Origin

From Ancient Greek ἑτερόδοξος (heteródoxos), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + δόξα (dóxa, “opinion”).

heterodoxy

Origin

From Ancient Greek ἑτεροδοξία (heterodoxía).

heterogeneous

Greek

From Greek heteros 'other, different' and genos 'kind, race'.

heterophobia

Origin

From hetero- + -phobia.

heterosexism

Origin

From heterosex(ual) + -ism; modelled on sexism.

heterosexual

Origin · 1892

Built from the prefix "hetero-" ("different, other") plus "sexual." First recorded in English in 1892, in a translation of Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis.

heterosexuality

Origin

From heterosexual + -ity or hetero- + sexuality.

heterozygous

Greek

From Greek heteros 'different' and zygotos 'yoked together', from zygon 'yoke'.

hetman

Germanic

From Polish hetman, ultimately tracing back to a Germanic word related to modern German Hauptmann ("captain"). It is a doublet of the English phrase "head man."

hetty

Origin

Shortened from "hetero" plus the informal -y ending, the same pattern as turning "definite" into "defo."

heuristic

Greek

From Greek heuriskein 'to find, discover', the same root as eureka.

hew

Origin

From Middle English hewen, from Old English hēawan, from Proto-West Germanic *hauwan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to strike, hew, forge”). Cognate to West Frisian houwe (“to hew”), Cimbrian hauan (“to dig”), Dutch houwen (“to hew”), German hauen (“to hew”), Luxembourgish haen (“to chop”), Danish hugge (“to hew”), Faroese høgga (“to hew”), Icelandic höggva (“to hew”), Norwegian Bokmål hogge, hugge (“to hew”), Norwegian Nynorsk hogga (“to hew”), Swedish hugga (“to hew”). Sense 3 derives from the phrase hew to the line (literally “cut evenly with an axe or saw”).

hewat

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of Hugh.

Hewes

Origin

From Hugh + patronymic suffix -s.

hewetson

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of Hugh + -son.

hewett

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of Hugh.

hewison

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of Hugh + -son.

hewitson

Origin

From Hewitt + -son.

Hewitt

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of Hugh.