hour
/aʊɚ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.18 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).
noun
The time.
noun
The set times of prayer, the canonical hours, the offices or services prescribed for these, or a book containing them.
Example Sentences
- "Holonyms: day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond"
- "Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond"
- "Near-synonym: microcentury (humorous approximation)"
- "I spent an hour at lunch."
- "There's a bus at 20 past the hour."
- "We still have a couple hours left to do in the yard."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁-der.? Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ Ancient Greek ὥρᾱ (hṓrā)bor. Latin hōra Old French hourebor. Middle English houre English hour From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English ġēar (“year”). Doublet of hora and year. Compare horary. Partly displaced native Old English tīd (“time, hour”), whence Modern English tide.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /aʊɚ/
- British English: /aʊə/
Usage
- American usage