haunt
/hɔnt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.54 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.
Example Sentences
- "A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house."
- "You wrong me Sir,thus ſtill to haunt my houſe."
- "Foul spirits haunt my resting place."
- "those cares that haunt the court and town"
- "The memory of his past failures haunted him."
- "The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defence."
Etymology
From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), from Old Northern French hanter (“to go back home, frequent”), from Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) or/and from Old English hāmettan (“to bring home; house; cohabit with”); both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village”). Cognate with Old English hǣman (“to cohabit, lie with, marry”); related to Old English hām (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. Another descendant from the French is Dutch hanteren, whence German hantieren, Swedish hantera, Danish håndtere. More at home.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ḱey-, haunten, hanter, heimta, hāmettan, *haimatjaną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hɔnt/
- British English: /hɔːnt/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- Archaic
- Intransitive verb
- British usage