Etymology

haw

H4A1W4

Today it means: An imitation of laughter, often used to express scorn or disbelief. Often doubled or tripled (haw haw or haw haw haw). Full definition →

Middle English ha
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haw · interjection, verb1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromha
  2. English todayhaw

From Middle English ha (interjection). Compare Old Norse há (interjection), Middle Low German ha, hā (interjection), Old High German aha, hei (interjection).

haw · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kagʰom
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hagô
  3. Old English · inherited fromhaga“enclosure, hedge”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromhawe
  5. English todayhaw

From Middle English hawe, from Old English haga (“enclosure, hedge”), from Proto-Germanic *hagô (compare West Frisian haach, Dutch haag, German Hag (“hedged farmland”), Norwegian Bokmål hage (“garden”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰom (compare Welsh cae (“field”), Latin caulae (“sheepfold, enclosure”), cohum (“strap between plowbeam and yoke”), Russian кош (koš, “tent”), коша́ра (košára, “sheepfold”), Sanskrit कक्ष (kakṣa, “curtain wall”)), from *kagʰ- 'to catch, grasp' (compare Welsh cau (“to clasp”), Oscan kahad (“may he seize”).

haw · interjection, verb3

Assumed to be interjectory, but compare Old English hawian (“to observe, look”)

haw · noun4

Late Middle English (denoting a discharge from the eye), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Etymology 2 above, describing a berry.

Haw · proper noun5

  1. Old English · inherited fromhaga“enclosure”
  2. English todayHaw

From Old English haga (“enclosure”). Also a back-formation from Middle English Hawkin, a diminutive of Harry or of a given name meaning "a hawk". Doublet of Haig.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishha all →

hahaggaday

Old Englishhaga all →

HaworthHaigh

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.