hit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hitten, inherited from Old English hittan (“to come upon, meet with”) (also hyttan), borrowed from Old Norse hitta (“to light upon, meet with; to hit”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hitjan, of uncertain origin.^[2][5] Barnhart compares Welsh cwyddo (“to fall”) and traces both to Proto-Indo-European *keid- (“to fall”),^[3] while Merriam-Webster suggests a link with Old English hentan (“to pursue, seize”).^[6] Its relatives include Swedish hitta (“to find”) and Danish hitte (“to hit, find”).^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To come upon, meet with: late Old English hyttan, before 1075.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In late Old English the meaning shifted to “to strike”, by way of “to reach with a blow or missile”, and hit displaced the Old English slēan, modern slay, in this sense.^[2] Barnhart finds “to strike” probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut.^[3] The old sense survives in hit it off (1780) and in the slang hit on (1970s).^[2] The noun meant “a rebuke” before 1475 and “a blow” from 1598.^[3][2] Hit the nail on the head is from the 1570s, an image from archery according to Etymonline;^[2] in late Middle English it had the form “hit on the head of the nail's end”.^[8] A successful play or song has been a hit since 1811, from the verb's sense “to hit the mark, succeed”,^[3][2] and the word was used in cricket from 1810–11.^[3] Hit the road is from 1873, hit the hay from 1912 and hit the bottle from 1933.^[2] In drug slang a hit is a dose from 1951, and in underworld slang a planned killing from 1970.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1075 – late Old English hyttan, to come upon.^[3]
• before 1200 – to strike (Layamon).^[3]
• before 1475 – noun, a rebuke.^[3]
• 1570s – hit the nail on the head.^[2]
• 1598 – noun, a blow.^[3]
• 1780 – hit it off.^[2]
• 1811 – a success.^[3][2]
• 1873 – hit the road.^[2]
• 1951 – a dose of a drug.^[2]
• 1970 – a planned killing.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To come against with force; to strike.
2. To reach with a missile or blow: hit the target.
3. To press a key or button.
4. To affect badly: hit hard by the drought.
5. To come upon or reach; to arrive at: hit the road.
6. (baseball, cricket) To bat; to make a hit.

Noun

1. A blow, collision or impact.
2. A successful shot, stroke or throw.
3. A successful or popular venture, such as a song or film.
4. (slang) A dose of a narcotic drug, or a puff of a cigarette.
5. (slang) A planned murder by a criminal gang.

Word family

• hitless
• hittable
• hitter
• king-hit
• megahit
• mishit
• nonhit
• hit man

Related words

• slay
• hit-and-run

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 n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press