Etymologically
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hike

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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
  • 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