haitch

H4A1I1T1C3H4
/ˈheɪt͡ʃ/dialectal/ˈheːt͡ʃ/

A form of aitch — The name of the Latin script letter H/h.

OriginOld French ache ← Vulgar Latin *acca →
Scrabble 14
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Meanings

nounhaitch (plural haitches)

plural haitches · alternative aitch

  1. AustraliaIrelandMalaysiaSingaporealternativeproscribedsometimesAlternative form of aitch.

Origin

  1. Vulgar Latin*acca
  2. Old Frenchache
  3. Englishhaitch

A nineteenth-century Hiberno-English phonological overlay of the early medieval Irish Gaelic héis and Middle English aitch. Héis is a graphemic mapping of Classical Latin ha, borrowed into Irish Gaelic to represent the autochthonous phoneme. Middle English aitch derives from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca, from Classical Latin ha. See the Wikipedia article about the letter.

More words from Old French, Vulgar Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with haitch

hacheaitch
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

haitch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haitch

MLA

“haitch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haitch. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “haitch,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haitch.

Source: haitch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.