Etymology

hoarse

H4O1A1R1S1E1

Today it means: Having a dry, harsh tone to the voice, as a result of a sore throat, age, emotion, etc. Full definition →

Middle English hors ← Old English hās ← Proto-Germanic *haisaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*haisaz
  2. Old English · inherited fromhās
  3. Middle English · inherited fromhors
  4. English todayhoarse

From Middle English hors, hos, from Old English hās, *hārs, from Proto-Germanic *haisaz, *haisraz, akin to Old Norse háss (West Norse) and heiss (East Norse) (whence Icelandic hás, Norwegian Nynorsk hås, Norwegian Bokmål hes and Swedish hes).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishhors all →

horseHorscroft

Old Englishhās all →

hose

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.