Hans in kelder

noun

An unborn child.

OriginDutch Hans →
First used 17th–18th c.
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounHans in kelder (uncountable)
  1. obsoleteuncountableAn unborn child.First known use 17th–18th c.

    Come here's a health to the Hans in Kelder, and the mother of the boy, if it prove so.

    1640, Richard Brome, Sparagus Garden
    1 more example

    When his companions drank to the Hans en kelderr, or Jack in the low cellar, he could not help displaying an extraordinary complacence of countenance […].

    1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

Origin

  1. DutchHans
  2. EnglishHans in kelder

From Dutch Hans in kelder (“Hans in the cellar”).

More words from Dutch

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Hans in kelder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hans%20in%20kelder

MLA

“Hans in kelder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hans%20in%20kelder. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hans in kelder,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hans%20in%20kelder.

Source: Hans in kelder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.