hack

Hack, to cut, is from Old English -haccian; hack, a hired horse or drudge, is a shortening of hackney.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hæk/^[4]

hack¹ cut

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hacken, from Old English -haccian in inherited from Old English tōhaccian (“to hack to pieces”),^[1][2][5] from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn,^[2][3] source also of Old Frisian hakkia, Dutch hakken and German hacken.^[1][2] Barnhart calls it of unknown origin;^[1] Hoad sees an imitative base *hak-,^[3] and Etymonline gives Proto-Indo-European *keg-, hook, tooth, perhaps influenced by Old Norse hǫggva, to hew.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cut roughly, with chopping blows: about 1200, probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

Hack after, to keep working away at, is from the late 14th century.^[2] The noun, a tool for chopping, is from before 1325 (the early 14th century),^[1][2] a cut or notch from the 1570s,^[2] and figuratively a try or attempt by 1898.^[2] To give a short dry cough is from 1802, perhaps imitative,^[2][1] and the noun, a dry cough, from 1885.^[1] The American slang sense, to cope with, as in can't hack it, is by 1955, from the idea of getting through something by effort.^[2][1][6] To gain unauthorized access to a computer system is from the 1980s (by 1984), a back-formation from hacker, which appeared in the 1970s.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – to chop.^[2]
• before 1325 – a chopping tool.^[1]
• 1570s – a cut.^[2]
• 1802 – to cough.^[2]
• 1898 – an attempt.^[2]
• 1955 – to cope with (slang).^[2]
• 1984 – to break into a computer.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To cut or chop with repeated rough blows.
2. To clear a way through undergrowth by cutting.
3. (informal) To manage or cope with: can't hack it.
4. To gain unauthorized access to a computer system, or to work as a hacker.
5. To cough harshly in short dry bursts.
6. (sport) To kick or strike an opponent illegally.

Noun

1. A rough cut made by hacking.
2. A tool, such as a hoe, used for hacking.
3. A rough dry cough.

Word family

• hacker
• hacking
• hacksaw

hack² hireling

Etymology

It is a shortening of hackney,^[1][2][3] an ordinary riding horse (about 1300), probably from the place name Hackney in Middlesex, where nags were apparently raised.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person hired to do routine work, a drudge: before 1700 in Barnhart, about 1700 in Etymonline;^[1][2] the SOED records hack as a horse for ordinary riding from Middle English.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Hackney itself had passed from a horse for hire to a broken-down nag, a prostitute (1570s) and a drudge (1540s), especially a literary one.^[2] A carriage for hire is from 1704, in Steele's Lying Lover,^[1][2] hence the modern slang for a taxicab.^[2] As an adjective, hired, it is from 1734,^[2][1] hack writer from 1826,^[1][2] and hack-work from 1851.^[2] To employ as a literary hack is from 1813, in Scott,^[1] and to make commonplace from 1745.^[2] An American henchman is from before 1848.^[1] Bartlett (1848) notes that women applied hack to any article of dress kept for everyday use.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1700 – a drudge.^[2]
• 1704 – a carriage for hire.^[1]
• 1734 – the adjective.^[2]
• 1813 – to employ as a hack.^[1]
• 1826 – hack writer.^[1]
• before 1848 – a henchman.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A writer or journalist who produces dull, routine work for money.
2. A person who does distasteful work for money; a hireling.
3. A horse for ordinary riding, or a worn-out horse for hire.
4. (US) A taxicab or its driver.

Adjective

1. Of routine commercial writing; hackneyed.

Verb

1. To drive a taxicab, or to work as a hired writer.
2. To ride a horse at an ordinary pace.

Word family

• hackney
• hackneyed
• hack writer

Related words

• hew
• hatchet
• hackle

Usage notes

A hack is also a board on which a hawk's meat is laid, a variant of hatch;^[3][7] a young hawk kept at hack is in a state of partial liberty.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford