hogan

Etymology

It is borrowed from Navajo hooghan (“dwelling, home”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word of the Athabaskan family.^[5][6] The OED analyses it as an areal prefix hoo- and -ghan (“to reside, have one's home”);^[2] Webster's Third and Merriam-Webster Unabridged as a deictic prefix ho- and -gan (“dwelling”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Navajo dwelling, in American English of 1871;^[6][5][8] the OED's first quotation is from a United States report on Indian affairs for 1871, published in 1872.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single meaning in standard English.^[2][8] In American slang, the plural hogans has meant a woman's breasts since the 1960s.^[9] Green's Dictionary of Slang asks whether it is a figurative use of hog, and quotes the suggestion that it comes from the dome-shaped Navajo house.^[9]

Timeline

• 1871 – a Navajo dwelling, in American English.^[6][5][8]
• 1872 – first quotation in the OED, in a report on Indian affairs.^[2]
• 1967 – slang, in the plural, a woman's breasts.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A traditional Navajo dwelling built of logs and covered with earth, mud or sod, with its door facing east.^[10][8][2]
2. (US slang, in the plural) A woman's breasts.^[9]

Usage notes

An older, unrelated word hogan, short for hogen mogen, was used from 1649 to the 18th century for a Dutchman and as an adjective meaning "Dutch" or "mighty", and since 1702 for a strong ale;^[2] Chambers traces it to Dutch hoog en mogend, high and mighty.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers