"H" Word Origins

Hasegawa

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 長谷川 (Hasegawa).

hash

French

From French hacher, "to chop" — the same root gives English "hatchet."

Hashimoto

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 橋本 (Hashimoto, literally “base of bridge”).

hashish

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic ḥashīsh, literally "dried herb" or "hay."

hashtag

Origin · 2007

Coined from "hash" (the # symbol) plus "tag"; the format was popularized on Twitter from around 2007 as a way to group related posts.

Haskell

Old Norse

* The programming language is named after American logician Haskell Curry (1900–1982). * As an English surname, from the Middle English personal name Askell, from Old Norse Áskell. Compare Axtell, Askin, Haskin, Hasty, Astin. * As a surname in the Isle of Man, a variant of Castell, itself related to the above. * As a Jewish surname, from Khaskl, a Yiddish form of Yeḥezqel, see Ezekiel.

Hassan

Arabic

From Arabic حَسَن (ḥasan, “fine, good, good-looking, handsome, manly; strong”).

Hasselhoff

German

Borrowed from German Hasselhoff, a habitational surname.

hassle

Origin

Origin uncertain; likely from a Southern US dialect word for panting or breathing noisily, possibly blended with "haste."

hassock

Origin

From Old English hassoc (“coarse grass”), of uncertain origin.

Hast

Origin

The old form of "have" used with "thou" in Early Modern English, as found throughout Shakespeare and the King James Bible.

hasta

Spanish

From Spanish hasta, "until," most often heard in the phrase hasta luego, "until later."

hasta luego

Spanish

Spanish hasta 'until' plus luego 'later, afterwards', literally 'until later'.

haste

Old French

From Old French haste, ultimately from a Frankish word for violent action — the sense mellowed over time to mean simple speed or urgency.

hasten

Origin

Formed from "haste" plus the verb-forming suffix "-en," on the pattern of words like "sweeten" or "loosen."

hastily

Origin

From "hasty" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

hastiness

Origin

From Middle English hastynes; equivalent to hasty + -ness.

Hastings

Old English

From the Old English tribal name Hæstingas, "the people of Hæsta," later transferred to the town they settled.

hasty

Middle English

From Middle English hasty, formed from "haste" plus "-y," mirrored by similar words in other Germanic languages.

hat

Old English

From Old English hætt, going back to a very old Germanic word for headgear, related to words in Norse, Frisian, and Scandinavian languages.

hat-trick

English

From nineteenth-century cricket, where a bowler who dismissed three batsmen with successive balls was traditionally presented with a hat.

hatable

Origin

From hat(e) + -able.

hatch

Old English

From Old English hæċ, an old Germanic word for a gate or half-door — related to modern "hedge" and the German word Heck.

hatchback

Origin

A blend of "hatch" (the rear door) and "back" (the rear of the car).

hatcher

Origin

From "hatch" plus the agent suffix "-er."

hatchet

Old French

From Old French hachete, a diminutive of hache, "axe" — ultimately from the same Frankish root that gives us "hash."

hatchling

Origin

From hatch + -ling. Sense 2 in reference to the term crack one's egg (“realize one is transgender”).

hate

Old English

From Old English hatian ("to hate") and hete ("hatred"), both going back to a very old Germanic root for strong negative emotion.

hated

Old English

The past participle of "hate," from Old English hatod.

hateful

Origin

From "hate" plus the adjective suffix "-ful," literally "full of hate."

hater

Old English

From Old English roots meaning "one who hates" — hate plus the agent suffix -er, the same pattern as "singer" from "sing."

hatful

Origin

From hat + -ful.

Hathaway

Old English

Two possible origins: * A topographic surname for someone who lived by a path across a heath, from Old English hǣþ (“heath, untilled land”) + weġ (“way”). * A metronymic surname from an Old English personal name *Heaþuwig, which is composed of the elements heaþu (“stife, contention”) and wīg (“war”). Cognate with German Hedwig.

Hathorne

Origin

Variant of Hawthorne.

hatred

Middle English

From Middle English haterede, built from hate plus an old suffix marking a state or condition — the same pattern seen in "kindred."

hats off

English

From the old custom of removing one's hat as a mark of respect.

hatstand

Origin

* hat + stand * (crazy, insane): From the "Roger Irrelevant" strip in the Viz comic, where this was one of Roger's absurd non sequiturs.

hatter

Origin

From hat plus the agent suffix -er — literally "one who makes hats." The Lewis Carroll phrase "mad as a hatter" is often linked to mercury poisoning once common among felt-hat makers.

Hattori

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 服部 (Hattori).

hatty

Origin

From hat + -y.

haughtiness

Origin

From Middle English hauteynesse, hautenesse, from Middle English hautein (“proud, haughty”), from Old French hautain + Middle English -nesse. Reanalysed in Modern English as haughty + -ness.

haughty

Old French

From Old French haut, meaning "high," the same root that gives English "altitude" — the spelling shifted over time to look more like "naughty."

haul

Old French

From Old French haler ("to pull, haul"), itself likely from a Germanic word meaning "to fetch" or "drag" — related to English "hale," as in "hale and hearty" (originally meaning to drag along robustly).

hauler

Origin

From Middle English halere, equivalent to haul + -er. Doublet of haulier.

haulier

Origin

From Middle English halyer, haliere, halere, equivalent to haul + -ier.

haunch

Origin

From Middle English haunche, hanche, from Old French hanche, hance, anche (compare French hanche, Italian anca), from a Germanic source, probably Frankish *ankijā, from Proto-Germanic *ankijǭ (“joint; ankle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ang- (“joint; lith”). Cognate with Old High German ancha, encha, einka (“the leg; joint, bend”) (compare Old High German anchila, enchila (“ankle”), German Hanke (“haunch”), West Frisian hancke (“haunch”). More at ankle.

haunt

Old French

From Old French hanter, "to frequent or visit regularly" — the ghost sense grew out of the idea of returning again and again to the same place.

Hauptmann

German

Borrowed from German Hauptmann.