hide

English has three nouns and verbs spelled hide: to conceal (Old English hȳdan), the skin of an animal (Old English hȳd), and an old measure of land (Old English hīd).^[1][2][3] The first two may share a root, but the land measure is unrelated.^[3][1]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /haɪd/^[4]

hide¹ conceal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hiden, inherited from Old English hȳdan (“to hide, conceal”),^[3][1][2] from Proto-West Germanic *hūdijan,^[3][2] also the source of Old Frisian hēda and Middle Dutch and Middle Low German hūden.^[1][2] It is traced to Proto-Indo-European *keudh- (“to cover, hide”),^[1][3] which is also seen in Greek keúthein “to conceal”, Sanskrit kuhara “cave” and Welsh cuddio “to hide”.^[1][2][5] Etymonline places this under the root *(s)keu- “to cover, conceal”, which also gave the noun hide “skin”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hide, conceal, also to hide oneself and to bury a body: before 899 in Barnhart, in Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

The core meaning has stayed the same since Old English.^[6][3] To conceal in order to shield or protect was a sense from Middle English to the early 17th century.^[6] The noun, a hiding place, appears in Middle English and was revived in modern use from 1649;^[7] it now often means a shelter for watching wildlife.^[6] Hide-and-seek is from 1672, in Dryden, replacing the earlier name all hid (1588).^[1]

Timeline

• a. 899 – to conceal.^[1]
• a. 1300 – noun, concealment.^[7]
• 1649 – noun, a hiding place.^[7]
• 1672 – hide-and-seek.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To put or keep out of sight; to conceal.
2. To keep secret or prevent from being known.
3. To keep oneself out of sight, or to seek refuge.

Noun

1. (chiefly British) A place of concealment, especially a shelter for watching birds or animals.

Word family

• hidden
• hideout
• hiding

hide² skin

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hide, inherited from Old English hȳd (“skin, hide”),^[3][1] from Proto-Germanic *hūdiz,^[3][2] also the source of Old Frisian hēd, Old Saxon hūd, Dutch huid, Old Norse húð and German Haut “skin”.^[3][1][2] It is from Proto-Indo-European *kut- (“skin”),^[1][2] also the source of Latin cutis “skin” and Greek kýtos “hollow vessel”, and with s- Greek skýtos “skin, leather”.^[1][5] It is related to cuticle and probably to the verb hide “to conceal”, the common notion being covering.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The skin of an animal: 891 in Barnhart, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle;^[1] before 900 in the OED.^[7] Human skin is also Old English.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Used of people the word was once neutral, as German Haut still is, but since the 17th century it has been contemptuous or jocular.^[7][9] Middle English paired it with hue (“complexion”) from about 1200, and the phrase hide nor hair is from the early 15th century.^[3] The verb, to flay, is from 1757 and to thrash from 1825,^[1] hence hiding “a beating” (19th century).^[2] Impudence or nerve (1916) is chiefly Australian and New Zealand.^[7][6] Hidebound (mid 16th century) first described cattle so ill-fed that their skin clung to their ribs.^[8]

Timeline

• 891 – an animal's skin.^[1]
• c. 1200 – hide ne hewe.^[3]
• early 15th century – hide nor hair.^[3]
• 1757 – verb, to flay.^[1]
• 1825 – verb, to thrash.^[1]
• 1916 – impudence.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The skin of an animal, especially a large one, raw or tanned.
2. (informal) A person's skin, especially as something at risk: save one's hide.
3. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) Impudence or nerve.

Verb

1. (informal) To beat or flog.

Word family

• hidebound
• rawhide
• cowhide

hide³ land

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English hīd, earlier hīġid, from hīw- “family, household”,^[3][2][6] related to Old English hīwan “members of a household”,^[2] Old High German hī- and Gothic heiwa-,^[2] and to Latin cīvis “citizen”.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A measure of land: 848 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It was the land needed to support one free family and its dependants, usually 100 or 120 acres but sometimes as little as 60, depending on the soil;^[3][6] it was rendered in Latin as familia.^[3] It is now used only in history.^[6]

Timeline

• 848 – a measure of land.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (historical) An old English measure of land, enough to support a family, usually about 120 acres.

Related words

• cuticle
• civil

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker