"H" Word Origins

hanging

Origin

From "hang" + "-ing."

hangman

Origin

From "hang" + "man."

hangout

Origin

A noun formed from the phrasal verb "hang out."

hangover

Origin · 1900

American English coinage from "hang" + "over," first recorded around 1900 for the effects of drinking.

hangworthy

Origin

From hang + -worthy.

Hangzhou

Chinese

From the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese characters for the city, historically the seat of a prefecture called Hang.

Hani

Origin

From Hani Haqniq, probably via Mandarin 哈尼 (Hāní).

hanja

Origin

Borrowed from Korean 한자(漢字) (hanja), from Middle Chinese 漢字 (MC xanH dziH, “Chinese character”, literally “Han Chinese + character”). Compare Cantonese 漢字 /汉字 (hon³ zi⁶), Japanese 漢字 (kanji), Mandarin 漢字 /汉字 (hànzì), Vietnamese Hán tự. Doublet of kanji and Hanzi.

Hank

Middle English

From Middle English hank, of Scandinavian origin, related to Old Norse hǫnk.

hanker

Origin

With a secondary frequentative suffix -er, ultimately pointing to Proto-Germanic *hankōną, an iterative to *hanhaną (“to hang”). Related to Dutch hunkeren (“to crave”), which continues the zero-grade iterative.

Hanks

Origin

From Hank + -s. * (surname): From Hank + the patronymic suffix -s. * (plural): From Hank + the pluralization suffix -s.

Hanley

Old English

From Old English words for "high" and "woodland clearing" — a settlement on high, cleared ground.

Hanlon

Irish

An anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó hAnluain, from a personal name built on words for "light" or "warrior."

Hanna

Hebrew

A variant spelling of Hannah, ultimately from a Hebrew word meaning "grace" or "favour."

Hannah

Hebrew

From the Hebrew Ḥannâ, meaning "grace" or "favour" — the same root gives us Ann, Anna, and Anne.

Hannibal

Origin

From Punic, meaning roughly "Baal is gracious" — Baal being an ancient Phoenician god.

Hannigan

Irish

From Irish Ó hAnnagáin, a diminutive of Annach.

Hanoi

Origin

From Vietnamese Hà Nội, itself from Sino-Vietnamese characters meaning "within the rivers."

Hanover

German

From German Hannover, meaning roughly "on the high bank" or "high shore."

Hans

German

A medieval German short form of Johannes, the German equivalent of John.

Hansen

Origin

A patronymic from Han + -sen.

hanson

Origin

From Hann + -son.

Hansson

Origin

Borrowed from Swedish Hansson.

hantle

Origin

Of obscure origin. Perhaps from Middle English *antel, *antæl, from Old English *antæl, *andtæl, equivalent to and- + tale (“number”); or more likely of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish antal, Danish antal (“a number, multitude”), Dutch aantal (“a number, a great many”), and German Anzahl (“a number, quantity, multitude”). The addition of initial h is believed to be due to influence from Middle English handfull (“handful”).

Hanukkah

Hebrew

From Hebrew ḥanukkah, meaning "dedication" or "consecration."

Hanuman

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit Hanumān.

Hanyang

Origin

From Mandarin 漢陽/汉阳 (Hànyáng).

hao

Origin

From Vietnamese hào.

haoma

Origin

Transliteration of Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀 (haoma). Doublet of soma.

hap

Middle English

From Middle English hap ("chance, luck"), related to Old Norse happ ("good luck"). The modern words "happen" and "happy" both grow from this same root.

haphazard

Origin

From hap ("chance, luck") plus hazard, both words carrying the idea of randomness.

hapless

Origin

From hap ("luck") plus the suffix -less ("without"), so literally "without luck."

Happ

German

Borrowed from German Happ.

happen

Middle English

From Middle English happenen, built from hap ("chance, occurrence") plus the verb-forming suffix -en.

happening

Origin

From happen plus the suffix -ing.

happily

Origin

From happy plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

happiness

Origin

From happy plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

happy

Origin

From "hap," an old word for luck or chance — the same root as "happen" and "perhaps."

haptics

Greek

From Greek haptikos 'able to touch or grasp', from haptesthai 'to touch'.

har

Old English

From Old English heorra ("hinge"), related to Dutch harre and Icelandic hjarri.

Hara

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit हर (hara).

Harada

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 原田 (Harada).

haram

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic ḥarām, related to the words "harem" and "herem."

harangue

Origin

From Middle English arang and French harangue, from Old Italian aringa (modern Italian arringa) from aringare (“speak in public”) (modern Italian arringare), from aringo (“public assembly”), from Gothic *𐌷𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍃 (*hriggs) or a compound containing it, akin to Old High German hring (“ring”) (whence German Ring). Doublet of range, rank, ring, and rink.

harass

Old French

From French harasser ("to exhaust, torment"), possibly from Old French harer, a command used to set a dog on someone or something.

harassment

French

From French harassement, built from harass plus -ment.

Harbin

Origin

From a Manchu word; the site began as a small fishing village before growing into a major city.

harbinger

Old French

Originally meant a person sent ahead to arrange lodgings for travellers, from Old French herbergeor, related to "harbor."