Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hooch

/huːt͡ʃ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 2.58 in modern English

Syllables: hooch
IPA: /huːt͡ʃ/

13

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.

Canadian usage; American usage; Countable; Informal; Uncountable

noun

A thatched hut, CHU, or any simple dwelling.

noun

Alternative form of hoosh (“type of stew”).

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"he was so grief-stricken that he literally drowned his sorrow in “hootch-i-noo,” the native equivalent of whiskey. […] Had he not been so sad he would not have drunk the “hootch,” and if he had not drunk the hootch he would not have died: a perfectly reasonable and logical argument."
"Bring on the free hooch!"
"Burn the hooches."

Etymology

Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived. From Tlingit xóots (“grizzly bear”).

Word Breakdown

Root: Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, xóots

Usage

Inflected Forms

hooches (plural) hootch (alternative)

Derived Forms

hoochhead

Phrases

prison hooch jail juice hooch girl hooch maid

Frequently Paired Words

jail juice rotgut

Synonyms

hootch

Rhymes With

brooch pooch gooch smooch bueche couch lodz mooch cooch baluch scooch booch

Questions

How do you pronounce hooch?: The recorded pronunciation is /huːt͡ʃ/.
What does hooch mean?: An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.
Where does hooch come from?: Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived. From Tlingit xóots (“grizzly bear”).

How to pronounce hooch

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hooch”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/huːt͡ʃ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hooch”.
Repeat and practice — Say “hooch” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.