hike

Pronunciation

• IPA: /haɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is an English dialect word, hyke or heik, to walk vigorously or tramp,^[2][3] of unknown or uncertain origin.^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster suggests it is perhaps akin to hitch.^[6] Etymonline notes a yike with the same sense from 1736.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To walk vigorously, to tramp or march: 1809.^[2][3][7][6] Hoad dates a sense to jerk, pull or drag to the 18th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia (1830) recorded hike, to go away, used contemptuously, as in Come, hike.^[3] To walk for pleasure, or go on a walking tour, is also from 1809,^[7] but the word was not in wide popular use until the early 20th century.^[3] To pull up, as of trousers, is first recorded about 1873 in American English, perhaps as a variant of hitch.^[2][3] To raise wages or prices is from 1904 in Barnhart, 1867 in Etymonline.^[2][3] The noun, a tramp or march, is from 1865,^[2][7] and a rise in prices or wages, chiefly North American, from 1931.^[2][7] Hiker is from 1901 in the OED, 1913 in Barnhart.^[7][2]

Timeline

• 1809 – to tramp, walk vigorously.^[2][7]
• 1830 – to go away (East Anglia).^[3]
• 1865 – a hike (noun).^[2][7]
• c. 1873 – to pull up (US).^[2]
• 1904 – to raise prices or wages (US).^[2]
• 1931 – a rise in prices.^[2][7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To go on a long walk for pleasure or exercise, especially in the country.
2. To pull or raise with a sudden motion, often with up; to hitch.
3. To increase a price or amount, especially abruptly.
4. (American football) To snap the ball.

Noun

1. A long walk, a trek or march.
2. A sudden rise in prices, wages or similar.

Word family

• hiker

Related words

• hitch

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press