hip

English has separate words hip for the joint of the body, for the fruit of the rose, and for “aware, fashionable”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hɪp/^[4]

hip¹ body

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hippe, inherited from Old English hype,^[5][1] from Proto-Germanic *hupiz,^[5][1] the source also of Dutch heup, German Hüfte and Gothic hups.^[5][1] Barnhart and MWU relate it to Latin cubitum “elbow” and Greek kýbos “cube”, from a root *keub- “a bend of the body”.^[1][6] Hoad relates it to hop.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The projecting part of the body where the thigh joins the pelvis: 971 in the OED.^[7] Barnhart has hipes-banes “hip-bones” about 1150 and hippe in Chaucer in 1369.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Hip and thigh, with overwhelming blows, is from 1560,^[7] and on the hip, at a disadvantage, from about 1460.^[7] In building, the sloping edge where two sides of a roof meet is from 1690.^[7][5] Hip-flask is from 1923.^[5]

Timeline

• 971 – the hip.^[7]
• c. 1460 – on the hip.^[7]
• 1690 – the hip of a roof.^[7]
• 1923 – hip-flask.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The part on each side of the body between the waist and the thigh.
2. The hip joint.
3. The angle where two sloping sides of a roof meet.

hip² rose fruit

Etymology

It is a 16th-century alteration of Middle English hepe,^[5] inherited from Old English hēope, hīope (“seed vessel of the wild rose”),^[5][1][2] from Proto-Germanic *hiup-, the source also of Old Saxon hiopo “bramble” and Dutch joop.^[5][1] Its further origin is unknown.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fruit of the wild rose: about 725 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart dates the form hipe to about 1415.^[1] The spelling hep remained in use beside hip.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 725 – the fruit of the wild rose.^[7]
• c. 1415 – the form hipe.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The red fruit of a rose; a rose hip.

hip³ fashionable

Etymology

It is of unknown origin,^[1][3] first recorded in American English, probably in African-American usage,^[5][3] and probably a variant of hep, which has the same sense and is recorded slightly earlier.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Informed, up to date: 1904.^[1][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to inform or keep someone up to date, is from 1920, in Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise.^[1]

Timeline

• 1904 – adjective, informed.^[1][5]
• 1920 – verb, to inform.^[1]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. (informal) Aware of or following the latest fashions and ideas.
2. (informal) Fashionable or stylish.

Related words

• hep
• hipster
• hippy
• hippie

Usage notes

The hip of hip, hip, hooray is another word, a cry to introduce a cheer, from 1827, earlier hep.^[5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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