"H" Word Origins

humpy

Origin

From hump + -y.

humus

Latin

From Latin humus meaning 'earth' or 'ground'.

Humvee

Origin

Formed from an attempt to pronounce the acronym HMMWV, "High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle."

hun

German

From the name of the historical Hunnic people; later used as wartime slang for Germans, and, more loosely, for anyone destructive.

Hunan

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 湖南 (Húnán), literally "south of the lake," referring to Lake Dongting.

hunch

Origin

Possibly a variant of "hunk," of uncertain origin; the "intuition" sense is said to come from an old superstition that touching a hunchback's hump brought luck.

hunchback

Origin

Formed by back-formation from "hunchbacked."

hundred

Old English

From Old English hundred, built from an Indo-European root for "hundred" plus a word meaning "count" or "reckoning."

hundredth

Origin

From hundred + the ordinal suffix -th.

hung

Old English

The past participle of "hang," from Old English hōn.

Hungarian

Origin

From Hungary + the adjective suffix -an.

Hungary

Medieval Latin

From Old English Hungerie, via Medieval Latin Hungaria.

hunger

Old English

From Old English hungor, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "hunger," ultimately traced to an Indo-European root for burning or yearning.

hungry

Old English

From Old English hungrig, built from hunger + the adjective suffix -y.

hunk

Dutch

Probably borrowed from a West Flemish or Dutch word for a chunk or lump, related to "hump."

hunker

Old Norse

Originally Scottish, of uncertain but likely Germanic origin, related to Old Norse huka, "to crouch."

hunks

Origin

Inflected forms.

hunky

Origin

From hunk + -y.

hunt

Old English

From Old English huntian, "to hunt," from a Proto-Germanic root possibly connected to an Indo-European word meaning "to catch or seize."

hunter

Middle English

From Middle English huntere, built from hunt plus the agent suffix -er — literally "one who hunts."

hunting

Old English

From Old English huntung, the -ing form of hunt.

Huntington

Old English

From Old English hunta ("hunter") combined with a place-name element, related to Huntingdon.

huntress

Middle English

From Middle English hunteresse, formed from hunter plus the feminine suffix -ess.

huntsman

Origin

From hunt plus -s- plus man, literally "hunt's man."

Huntsville

Origin

From Hunt + -s- + -ville.

Huo

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 霍 (Huò).

hup

Origin

A variant of hep, used as a marching or driving call.

Hur

Korean

Borrowed from Korean 허(許) (heo).

hurdle

Old English

From Old English hyrdel, a woven frame of twigs used as a temporary fence — the racing sense of "barrier to leap" grew out of this literal fence.

hurl

Middle English

From Middle English hurlen, likely imitating the sound of something being flung violently — related to hurry and hurtle.

hurley

Origin

From the verb "hurl" — the stick is named after the action of hurling the ball.

Huron

French

From French Huron, of uncertain origin — possibly from French hure ("boar's head," a jab at a hairstyle) or from an Iroquoian word for "nation."

hurrah

German

Origin uncertain — possibly borrowed from the German hurra, or an altered form of huzzah.

hurricane

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish huracán, which came from a Taíno word for a powerful storm god.

hurriedly

Origin

Formed from hurried plus the adverb suffix -ly.

hurriedness

Origin

From hurried + -ness.

hurry

Middle English

From Middle English horien ("to rush"), probably related to Proto-Germanic roots meaning "to rush" or "to vibrate rapidly" — distantly connected to the word rush itself.

hurst

Old English

From Old English hyrst, meaning a wooded hill or thicket — the same root shows up at the end of many English place names, like Amherst and Sandhurst.

hurt

Old French

From Old French hurter ("to strike, collide with"), possibly from a Frankish word for a battering ram.

hurtful

Origin

Formed from hurt plus the adjective suffix -ful.

hurtle

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English hurtelen, hurtlen (“to cast, hurl, throw; to charge at; to clash in combat, fight; to collide; to injure; to knock down; to propel, push, thrust; to rush; to stumble”) [and other forms], from hurten (“to injure, wound, hurt (physically or figuratively); to damage, impair; to hurt one’s feelings, humiliate; to receive an injury; to collide into; to propel, push, thrust; to stumble”) (see further at English hurt (verb)) + -el-, -elen (frequentative suffix). The English word is analysable as hurt (“(obsolete) to knock; to strike”) + -le (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

hurty

Origin

From hurt (“blue spot”) + -y.

Hus

Origin

* As a Polish, Czech, Slovak (Hús) and Jewish surname, from husa (“goose”). Compare Husa. * As a Dutch surname, variant of Huss, also found in German, from the nouns huis or Haus, and derivatives of Proto-West Germanic *hugi (“spirit, mind”) (as in Hugh). * As a Norwegian surname, from hus (“house”). This sense also entered French through Frankish *hūs. Compare Paulhus.

husayn

Origin

Transliteration of Arabic حُسَيْن (ḥusayn), from the root ح س ن (ḥ s n).

husband

Old English

From Old English husbonda, a compound of hus ("house") and a form of the Old Norse word for a resident or master — originally meaning "master of the house," long before it narrowed to mean specifically a married man.

husbandly

Origin

From Middle English housbondly, equivalent to husband + -ly.

husbandman

Origin

From Middle English husbandman, husbondman, equivalent to husband + -man.

husbandry

Origin

From Middle English hus-bō̆ndrī, hus-bō̆ndrīe, husbanderi, husbonderie, housbondrye, housebondrie (“household management, housekeeping; household duties; economy, skilful management, thrift; farm management, agriculture, farming; cultivation; household articles; husbands collectively”), from hǒus-bō̆nd, hǒus-bō̆nde (“male spouse, husband; master of a house; male head of a household; man having charge of something, household manager; (figuratively) host, inhabitant, resident; bondsman, villein; farmer, husbandman”) (see further at husband) + -rīe (suffix forming nouns collectively denoting members or practitioners of a craft or profession). By surface analysis, husband + -ry.