whoop

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English houpen, also whopen,^[2][3][4][5] probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman houper and Middle French houper, also huper, to shout out loudly, recorded in Old French from the 13th century;^[6][2][5] the French verb is probably from the interjection houp, although that is recorded later, and is ultimately imitative.^[6][4][7][8] Barnhart and Etymonline take the English word as partly imitative in its own right and partly borrowed from French.^[3][2] The spelling with “wh-” appears in the mid-15th century;^[2] Barnhart dates whowpen to about 1450, as an alteration of houpen (about 1376).^[2][3] Skeat notes that the initial w is modern and that the word was formerly hoop,^[9] and Klein treats hoop as a call to animals as the same word in its older spelling.^[4] The interjection is either from the verb or a separate imitative formation; the OED compares Middle French houp.^[6] The noun is from the interjection or the verb.^[6][5] Dictionary.com instead derives Middle English whopen from Old English hwōpan (“to threaten”), cognate with Gothic 𐍈𐍉𐍀𐌰𐌽 (hwōpan, “to boast”);^[10] Holthausen gives the Old English verb that meaning and the same Gothic comparison, and calls its origin unknown.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cry “whoop!” or give a similar shout, to attract attention or to express derision or defiance: about 1390, in a manuscript of Langland's Piers Plowman.^[6] Etymonline dates the verb to the mid-14th century, meaning to shout with a loud, excited voice.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In hunting and falconry the verb meant to call on or encourage a dog or hawk with whoops, from before 1500 to 1843.^[6] From before 1556 it was used of an owl hooting, and later of other birds and animals.^[6] The interjection is recorded from before 1450, in a poem on falconry, and the noun, a cry of “whoop”, from about 1450.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined the noun first as a shout of pursuit.^[13] The medical sense, a noisy gasp for breath after a fit of coughing, dates from 1679 for the verb and 1779 for the noun,^[6] and gave whooping cough (1739), now the usual spelling of hooping cough; the whooping crane (1791) is named for its cry.^[2][3] American English added whoopee (1862),^[3] the phrase whoop it up (1881)^[2] and the North American not care a whoop (1867).^[6] A whoop is also a bump or dip on a racetrack, shortened from whoop-de-do (1975).^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – verb, to cry “whoop” or shout, in Piers Plowman.^[6] Barnhart dates houpen to about 1376.^[3]
• before 1450 – interjection, a cry to attract attention or urge on.^[6]
• c. 1450 – noun, a cry of “whoop”.^[6]
• before 1500 – to urge on a hound or hawk with whoops (obsolete after 1843).^[6]
• before 1556 – of an owl, to hoot.^[6]
• 1679 – to gasp noisily for breath after coughing.^[6]
• 1739 – whooping cough.^[2][3]
• 1815 – a whoop and a holler, a short distance.^[6]
• 1867 – not care a whoop, in North America.^[6]
• 1881 – whoop it up, to create a disturbance.^[2]
• 1975 – a bump or ridge on a racetrack.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give a loud cry of excitement, joy or enthusiasm: The fans whooped as the final whistle blew.^[14][5][6]
2. To say or call out something with such a cry.^[14][6]
3. To urge on or call a person or animal with whoops.^[14][6]
4. Of certain birds, such as owls and cranes, to give a hooting cry.^[14][6]
5. To make the gasping, crowing sound of whooping cough after a fit of coughing.^[14][6]
6. whoop it up: (informal) to celebrate noisily, or (US) to stir up enthusiasm.^[14][2]

Noun

1. A loud cry, especially of excitement or enthusiasm: She let out a whoop when she saw the results.^[14][5][6]
2. A shout of men in battle or in pursuit; a war cry.^[5][13]
3. The crowing intake of breath in whooping cough.^[14][6]
4. The hooting call of some birds and animals.^[6][5]
5. not care (or give) a whoop, not worth a whoop: (informal) not care at all, worth nothing.^[14][6][8]
6. a whoop and a holler: (informal, chiefly North American) a short distance.^[6][8]

Interjection

1. A cry of excitement, delight or exultation.^[8][6][5]

Word family

• whooper
• war whoop
• whooping crane
• whooping cough

Related words

• whoopee
• whoop-de-do
• hoopla

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster gives pronunciations with /h/ and with /hw/, and for the cough also a short vowel, as in hook.^[5] In Dorset and Devon dialect a whoop was a bullfinch, the same word as hoop in that sense,^[15] and Merriam-Webster records whoop for the hoopoe, an alteration of hoop.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ 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)