hut

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hʌt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French hutte (“cottage”),^[2][3][4] from Middle High German hütte or Old High German hutta (“roughly built shelter”),^[2][3][5] from Proto-Germanic *hudjōn, probably related to Old English hȳdan (“to hide”) (see hide),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wooden structure for housing troops: 1545 in the OED, the mid-16th century in the New Oxford, apparently first a military word in English;^[6][7][3] a rude dwelling from 1658 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1650s in Etymonline.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

A beaver's lodge was called a hut from 1722.^[6] The verb, to lodge in huts, is from 1652, and to go into winter quarters from 1807.^[6] In Australia the hut is the lodging for shearers and stockmen on a sheep or cattle station, and in New Zealand a shelter for climbers and skiers.^[8]

Timeline

• 1545 – a hut for troops.^[6]
• 1652 – to hut (verb).^[6]
• 1658 – a rude dwelling.^[2][6]
• 1722 – a beaver's lodge.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small, simple or makeshift house or shelter; a shack.
2. A temporary building for sheltering soldiers.

Verb

1. To shelter or live in a hut.

Word family

• hutlike
• hutment
• Nissen hut
• Quonset hut

Related words

• hide
• house
• hutch
• shack

Usage notes

In north Lincolnshire a hut was a small hovel such as a dog kennel or rabbit hutch, and in Derbyshire the hob of a grate.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)