hoot
/hʉːt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.99 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To cry out or shout in contempt.
Example Sentences
- "My performance drew hoots of derision from the crowd."
- "I heard the hoot of an owl. Whoo, whoo!"
- "The party at the weekend was such a hoot! Thanks for the invite."
- "We don't care a hoot about what you think."
- "Well, it was Sunday morning, and the wheat nothing like ripe; but it was a chance, and I got onto my reaper and banged down every hoot of it before Monday night."
- "Matrons and girls shall hoot at thee no more,"
Etymology
From Middle English houten, huten, hoten, assumed to be of North Germanic origin: Swedish hut! (“begone!”, interjection) (also dialectal Norwegian hut, Bornholm Danish hut, hot), Swedish huta (“to drive someone away (with calls)”), Old Swedish huta (“to cast out in contempt”), related to Swedish hojta (“to holler”), hojt (“a holler”), further related to Middle High German hiuzen, hūzen (“to call to pursuit”). Swedish hut is the common command to call off and silence barking (hunting) dogs on the pursuit. Compare Swedish veta hut (“know one's place, like a dog”, literally “to know 'hoot' (the command)”). The Middle High German terms could suggest an earlier Proto-Germanic (hunting dog command?) *hūt- (“to command barking en pursuit?”). Maybe cognate to shout? Ultimately onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse hutututu (“brr”), Norwegian hutra, Swedish huttra, huttla, Danish hudre, Low German hudern, German huttern (“to shiver”). Further compare English hoy, Dutch hui, Low German hoi, Norwegian hoi, Swedish hoj, Danish hoj, huj (“ho, hallo”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hʉːt/