"H" Word Origins

homeschooler

Origin

From homeschool + -er.

homesick

Origin

Formed from home + sick, describing the "sickness" of missing home.

homesickness

Origin

Calque of German Heimweh (“homesickness”, literally “home-woe”), equivalent to home + sickness.

homesitter

Origin

From home + sitter.

homeskillet

Origin

From home + skillet, compare homeboy.

homestead

Old English

From Old English hāmstede, literally "home-place," from home + stead ("place").

hometown

Origin

From home + town.

homeward

Old English

From Old English hāmweard, from home plus the directional suffix -ward.

homework

Origin

From home + work.

homeworld

Origin

From home + world, a term mostly used in science fiction.

homey

Origin

From home plus the adjective-forming suffix -y.

homicidal

Origin

From homicide + the adjective ending -al.

homicide

Latin

From Old French homicide, ultimately from Latin homicida ("man-killer") and homicidium ("manslaughter").

homicider

Origin

From homicide + -er.

homie

Origin

Informal shortening of "homeboy/homegirl", built from home + the affectionate suffix -ie.

homily

Origin

From Middle English omelī, omelīe, omelye, from Old French omelie and directly from Late Latin homīlia (“homily”), from Ancient Greek ὁμῑλίᾱ (homīlíā, “homily; instruction”), from ὅμῑλος (hómīlos, “crowd, throng”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming abstract feminine nouns). ὅμῑλος is derived from ὁμός (homós, “common; same”) + ῑ̓́λη (ī́lē, “crowd”) (from εἴλω (eílō, “to aggregate”)).

homo

Origin

Shortened form of "homosexual" in one sense; "homogenized" in the dairy sense.

homocaust

Origin

Blend of homo + holocaust. See Homocaust.

homochronous

Origin

From homo- + -chronous.

homodoxy

Origin

From homodox + -y.

homogeneous

Greek

From Greek homos meaning 'same' and genos meaning 'kind' or 'race'.

homogenitality

Origin

From homogenital + -ity, equivalent to homo- + genitality.

homograph

Origin

From homo- + -graph.

homolog

Origin

Borrowed from French homologue, From Ancient Greek ὁμόλογος (homólogos, “agreeing, of one mind”), equivalent to homo- + -log.

homophile

Origin

From homo- + -phile.

homophobe

Origin

Formed by working backward from "homophobia" — homo- ("same") + -phobe ("one who fears/hates").

homophobia

Greek · 1900

From Greek homo- ("same") + -phobia ("fear"), coined in the 20th century to describe hostility toward homosexuality.

homophobic

Origin

From homo- ("same") + -phobic ("fearing/hating"), the adjective form of homophobia.

homophone

Greek

From Greek homos meaning 'same' and phone meaning 'sound'.

homosexual

Latin · 1868

Coined in German in 1868 by Karl-Maria Kertbeny from Greek homo- ("same") + Latin sexualis, and later carried into English.

homosexuality

German · 1800

From homosexual + -ity, modeled on the German Homosexualität, coined in the late 19th century.

homozygous

Greek

From Greek homos meaning 'same' and zygotos meaning 'yoked together'.

homunculine

Origin

From homunculus + -ine.

homunculus

Latin

Borrowed from Latin homunculus, literally "little man", from homo ("man") + the diminutive ending -culus.

hon

Origin

Shortened form of "honey" used as a term of endearment.

honcho

Japanese

From Japanese hanchō ("squad leader"), likely picked up by American soldiers during World War II.

honda

Latin

Possibly from Spanish honda ("sling"), from Latin funda; the automaker's name simply comes from founder Soichiro Honda.

Honduras

Spanish

From Spanish honduras ("depths"), said to refer to the deep waters off the country's northern coast.

hone

Old English

From Old English hān ("stone"), related to Proto-Germanic and ultimately Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "to sharpen".

honest

Latin

From Old French honeste, from Latin honestus, related to honor.

honestly

Origin

From honest + the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

honesty

Latin

From Old French honesté, ultimately from Latin honestus; the plant sense comes from the way its seeds show through its papery pods.

honey

Old English

From Old English huniġ, from a Proto-Germanic root, ultimately going back to a Proto-Indo-European word for a golden or yellowish substance.

honeybunch

Origin

From honey + bunch.

honeybunny

Origin

From honey + bunny.

honeycomb

Old English

From Old English huniġcamb, literally "honey" + "comb", describing the wax structure bees build to store honey.

honeydew

Origin

From honey + dew, originally referring to a sweet, sticky substance found on plants, later applied to the pale green melon.

honeymoon

Origin

From honey + moon; originally suggesting that affection, like the moon, wanes over time, though the word later came to mean the sweet first month of marriage.