hamlet
/ˈhæm.lət/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.65 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A small settlement or a group of houses, often defined as a settlement smaller than a village.
noun
An unincorporated community of whatever size, lacking its own municipal government, but with defined boundaries.
Canadian usage
name
name
The eponymous main character of William Shakespeare's play, whose father's ghost, murdered by Hamlet's uncle, exhorts him to seek revenge.
name
A male given name.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Coal′brookdale, a hamlet of England, co. of Salop, on a railway, 2 miles N. of Broseley, on the Severn. Pop. 1574, engaged in collieries, foundries, and fire-brick and tobacco-pipe manufactories."
- "Georgetown, a hamlet in Frederick co., Md., on the Frederick & Pennsylvania Line Railroad, 6 miles N.E. of Frederick. It has 2 churches."
- "No, no. It's a cute little town. Actually, I think they call it a "hamlet." That's how cute it is."
- "One hundred thirtie two thousand of Parish Churches, Hamlets, and Villages of all sorts."
- "The case stated, That Thomas G., the pauper, […] served that year at S.; which is a hamlet consisting of one house only, and between three and four hundred acres of land : that the said hamlet of S. had never contributed towards the relief of the poor of the parish of T., nor had ever been assessed thereto; but had always been assessed, and had always paid to the support of the parish church of T.: […]"
- "Hunsley is a hamlet in the parish of Rowley."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *tḱéytibf. Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz Frankish *haimbor. Old French ham Old French hamel Old French hameletbor. Middle English hamlet English hamlet From Middle English hamlet, hamelet, a borrowing from Old French hamelet, diminutive of Old French hamel, in turn diminutive of Old French ham, of Germanic origin, from Frankish *haim, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (whence English home). Equivalent to Middle English ham (“home, village”) + -let (“small”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhæm.lət/
- British English: /ˈhæm.lɪt/
Usage
- British usage
- Canadian usage
- Uncountable