hawk
/ˈhoːk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.81 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon.
noun
Any of various species of dragonfly of the genera Apocordulia and Austrocordulia, endemic to Australia.
noun
An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions.
noun
An uncooperative or purely selfish participant in an exchange or game, especially when untrusting, acquisitive or treacherous. Refers specifically to the prisoner's dilemma, a.k.a. the Hawk-Dove game.
Example Sentences
- "It is illegal to hunt hawks or other raptors in many parts of the world."
- "He made his hawke to fly, With hogeous showte and cry."
- "A hawk by nature, Ellenborough strongly favoured presenting St Petersburg with an ultimatum warning that any further incursions into Persia would be regarded as a hostile act."
- "“Everybody knows who were the hawks and who were the doves,” Bundy told the ExComm on the morning of October 28, after Khrushchev announced that he was withdrawing his missiles. “Today was the day of the doves.”"
- "President Donald Trump has spent years playing the role of a China hawk."
- "[…] take-out sandwich from Arnie's on Jackson, then a brisk walk to Michigan Avenue in the face of the "Hawk," blowing newspapers and skirts and the gulls wheeling over the Michigan Avenue Bridge in front of […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap-der.? Proto-Germanic *habukaz Proto-West Germanic *habuk Old English hafoc Middle English hauk English hawk Inherited from Middle English hauk, hauke, hawke, havek, from Old English hafoc, from Proto-West Germanic *habuk, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz, controversially derived from Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos, perhaps ultimately derived from *kap- (“seize”). Cognate with West Frisian hauk, German Low German Haavke, Dutch havik, German Habicht, Swedish hök, Danish høg, Norwegian Bokmål hauk, Norwegian Nynorsk hauk, Faroese heykur, Icelandic haukur, Finnish haukka, Estonian haugas; also Latin capys, capus (“bird of prey”), Albanian gabonjë, shkabë (“eagle”), Russian ко́бец (kóbec, “falcon”), Polish kobuz (“Eurasian Hobby”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhoːk/
- British English: /ˈhɔːk/
Usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
African harrier-hawk
Berigora hawk
between hawk and buzzard
blue hen-hawk
blue marsh hawk
budget hawk
changeable hawk-eagle
cicada hawk