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hip

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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

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.
  • 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