Etymology

hella

H4E1L1L1A1

Today it means: An intensifier, signifying an abundance of a thing; much or many. Full definition →

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hella · determiner, pronoun, adverb, interjection1

Related to a hell of a. Originally Northern California slang. Compare helluv, helluva.

hella · contraction2

Shortened form, or elision, of phrases like "hell have", approximating casual speech in writing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.