"H" Word Origins

hiding

Old English

Related to "hide" (Old English "hydan"); the "beating" sense likely comes from the older meaning of whipping someone with a strip of animal hide.

hidrosis

Origin

From New Latin hīdrōsis, from Ancient Greek ῑ̔δρώς (hīdrṓs, “sweat”) + -ωσῐς (-ōsĭs); also synchronically held to end in the suffix -osis.

hie

Old English

From Old English "higian" ("to strive, hasten"), related to words meaning "to breathe" or "pant" in other Germanic languages.

hield

Origin

From Middle English heelden, helden, from Old English hieldan, heldan (“to lean, incline, slope, force downwards, bow or bend down”), from Proto-West Germanic *halþijan, from Proto-Germanic *halþijaną (“to bend, incline, pour, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to tilt, tip, incline”). Cognate with Dutch hellen (“to incline”), Low German hellen (“to incline”), Middle High German helden (“to incline”), Danish hælde (“to tilt, lean, slant, slope”), Swedish hälla (“to tilt, pour”), Icelandic halla (“incline, lean sideways, heel over”), Icelandic hella (“to pur”). See also heel.

hiemal

Origin

From Latin hiemālis (“pertaining to winter”), from hiems (“winter”). More at hibernate.

hierarch

Origin

From Medieval Latin hierarcha, from Ancient Greek ἱεράρχης (hierárkhēs) Derived from ἱερός (hierós, “holy”) + -άρχης (-árkhēs, “ruler”, “leader”). ἱερός from Proto-Hellenic *iherós, from Proto-Indo-European *ish₁ros. There are a number of candidate cognates with this word. Compare Sanskrit इषिर (iṣira, “vigorous, fresh, blooming”) and Oscan 𐌀𐌉𐌔𐌖𐌔𐌉𐌔 (aisusis).

hierarchical

Origin

From hierarchy + -ical; compare French hiérarchique.

hierarchy

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek "hierarkhía" ("rule of a high priest"), from "hierarkhes" ("high priest"), combining "hieros" ("holy") and "arkho" ("to rule").

hieratic

Origin

From Latin hieraticus, from Ancient Greek ἱερατικός (hieratikós), from ἱερατεία (hierateía, “priesthood”), from ἱερατεύω (hierateúō, “be a priest”), from ἱερεύς (hiereús, “priest”), from ἱερός (hierós, “sacred”). Use pertaining to the Egyptian writing system originates with the Greek phrase γράμματα ἱερατικά (grámmata hieratiká, literally “priestly writing”), which was first used by Saint Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century AD, as at that time hieratic was used only for religious texts, as had been the case for the previous thousand years.

hierocracy

Origin

From hiero- + -cracy.

hieroglyph

Origin

First attested around 1598, a back-formation from hieroglyphic (1580s), from Middle French hiéroglyphique, from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós) (Plutarch τά ἱερογλυφικά [γράμματα] "hieroglyphic [writing]), ἱερόγλυφος (hierógluphos, “carver of hieroglyphs”) (Ptolemy), a compound of ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) and γλυφή (gluphḗ, “carved work”), a calque of Egyptian mdw-nṯr (“the god’s word”), nTr-md. By surface analysis, hiero- + glyph.

hieroglyphic

Origin

First coined 1726, from French hiéroglyphique, from Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikós), from ἱερογλυφέω (hierogluphéō, “to represent hieroglyphically”), from ἱερός (hierós, “sacred, holy”) + γλύφω (glúphō, “to carve, to engrave, to cut out”). By surface analysis, hiero- + glyphic.

higashi

Origin

From Japanese 東 (higashi, “east”), from the way the eastern or right side of the sumo ranking list is considered more prestigious, by analogy with the rising sun as opposed to the setting sun.

higgens

Origin

Rare spelling variant of Higgins.

higgin

Origin

From a Middle English [Term?], a diminutive of Hick, from Richard.

Higgins

Irish

An anglicised version of Irish Ó hUiginn (“descendant of a Viking”).

higgle

Origin

Probably an alteration of haggle.

Higgs

Origin · 1964

Named after the physicist Peter Higgs, who in 1964 proposed the mechanism that gives elementary particles mass.

high

Old English

From Old English hēah, going back through Proto-Germanic to a very old root meaning "to bend" — the same distant root that gave the name Caucasus (mountains that "bend upward").

high-maintenance

Origin

According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, the figurative sense was popularized by the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally....

highball

Origin

From railroad signalling, where a raised ("high") ball-shaped signal meant "go ahead at full speed" — the sense later carried over to exaggerated estimates and to the tall drink named for its glass.

highbrow

Origin · 1870

Coined in the 1870s from high + brow, drawing on the now-discredited pseudoscience of phrenology, which claimed that a taller forehead signalled greater intelligence.

highfalutin

Origin

Possible an alteration of high-fluting. Another speculation connects the term with high-flighting/-flying. First appears c. 1839 in the Spirit of the Times.

highfather

Origin

Perhaps from Middle English hehfader, heahfeder, from Old English hēahfæder (“patriarch”, literally “high-father”); or perhaps a direct revival of the Old English word. By surface analysis, high + father.

highland

Old English

From Old English hēahland, a straightforward compound of high and land, also found in similar forms across the Germanic languages.

Highlander

Origin

Formed from highland plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "one belonging to the highlands."

Highlands

Origin

Specific application of highlands, equivalent to high + lands.

highlight

Origin

A compound of high and light, describing the brightest ("highest") points of light in an image before the word broadened to mean any standout moment or detail.

highly

Old English

From Old English hēalīce, formed from high plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

highness

Middle English

From Middle English hyghnesse, built from high plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

hightail

Origin

From high + tail, describing how fleeing animals such as deer raise their tails as they run away.

Hightower

Origin

By surface analysis, high + tower.

highway

Old English

From Old English hēahweġ, literally "high way" — a raised, major road built above the surrounding land, distinguished from smaller local tracks.

highwayman

Origin

A compound of highway and man, describing a robber who worked the open road.

highwrought

Origin

From high + wrought.

Higuchi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 樋口 (Higuchi).

HIIT

English

An initialism of high-intensity interval training.

hijab

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic ḥijāb, meaning "veil" or "curtain," from a root meaning "to cover" or "to conceal."

hijack

Origin · 1900

First recorded in the early 20th century, likely a blend of highway and jacker ("one who holds someone up"); origin details remain uncertain.

hijacker

Origin

Formed from hijack plus the agent suffix -er.

hijacking

Origin

Formed from hijack plus the noun-forming suffix -ing.

hijinks

English

From the earlier phrase high jinks, originally the name of a boisterous parlour drinking game.

Hikari

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese ひかり (hikari), meaning "light."

hike

Origin

Likely from an English dialect word hyke, "to walk vigorously," itself probably a Northern form of hitch.

hiker

Origin

Formed from hike plus the agent suffix -er.

hilarious

Ancient Greek

A learned borrowing based on Latin hilaris ("cheerful"), which itself comes from the Ancient Greek hilarós, meaning "cheerful" or "merry."

hilarity

Origin

From Latin hilaritās (“cheerfulness”), from hilaris (“cheerful”), from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful”). By surface analysis, Latin hilar(ō) + -i- + -ty.

Hilary

Latin

From Latin Hilarius (“cheerful, happy”), name of a fourth-century saint, and from its feminine form Hilaria.