Meanings
plural hiccups · alternative dated hiccough · alternative archaic hickup
- A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound.
There was a loud hiccup from the back of the room and the class erupted in laughter.
- A case of the hiccups; the condition of having the spasms of hiccupping; singultus; diaphragmatic myoclonus.
- broadlyAny spasm or sudden change.
Albert didn't notice the switch, the subliminal flash and hiccup in time as the man he had been talking to only seconds before was catapulted backwards half an hour.
2010, Oli Smith, Nuclear Time, page 197
present singular third person hiccups · participle present hiccuping · participle present hiccupping · participle past hiccuped · past hiccuped · participle past hiccupped · past hiccupped · alternative dated hiccough · alternative archaic hickup
- intransitiveTo produce a hiccup; have the hiccups.
- transitiveTo say with a hiccup.
"I haven't touched a drop, officer," the suspect hiccupped.
- intransitiveTo produce an abortive sound like a hiccup.
The car engine hiccupped but wouldn't start.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA minor obstacle or setback.
More synonyms by meaning
noun(usually plural) the state of having reflex spasms of the diaphragm accompanied by a rapid closure of the glottis producing an audible sound; sometimes a symptom of indigestion
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From earlier hickop, alteration of earlier hicket, hyckock, from hic (onomatopoeic) + -ock (diminutive suffix). Akin to Scots hick, hix (“hiccup”), West Frisian hik (“hiccup”), Dutch hik (“hiccup”), Middle Low German hükup, huckup, hueckup (modern Low German hick (“hiccup”)), German hicksen (“to hiccup”, verb), Alemannic German Hidsgi (“hiccup”), Danish hikke (“hiccup”), Swedish hicka (“hiccup”), hicka (“to hiccup”, verb), Icelandic hiksti (“hiccup”). Displaced yex, from Middle English yexen, ȝisken, ȝixen, ȝoxen (“to hiccup”), from Old English ġiscian, ġeocsian (“to hiccup”). The double c in the spelling (as opposed to ck) is a remnant of the unetymological hiccough spelling.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans hik
- hikspasm of the diaphragm
Ancient Greek λύγξ, λύζω
- λύγξ (lúnx)spasm of the diaphragm
- λύζω (lúzō)to hiccup
Arabic حَازُوقَة, فُوَاق
- حَازُوقَة (ḥāzūqa)spasm of the diaphragm
- فُوَاق (fuwāq)spasm of the diaphragm
- فَوَاقَ (fawāqa)to hiccup
Basque zotin
- zotinspasm of the diaphragm
Bengali হেঁচকা, হেঁচকি
- হেঁচকা (hẽcka)spasm of the diaphragm
- হেঁচকি (hẽcki)spasm of the diaphragm
Bulgarian хълцане, хъ́лцам
- хълцане (hălcane)spasm of the diaphragm
- хъ́лцам (hắlcam)to hiccup
Catalan singlot, singlotar
- singlotspasm of the diaphragm
- singlotarto hiccup
Chinese Cantonese 打思噎, 打思肊
- 打思噎 (daa² si¹ jik¹)spasm of the diaphragm
- 打思肊 (daa² si¹ jik¹)spasm of the diaphragm
- 打思噎to hiccup
Chinese Mandarin 打嗝（兒） /打嗝（儿）, 呃逆
- 打嗝（兒） /打嗝（儿）spasm of the diaphragm
- 呃逆 (ènì)spasm of the diaphragm
- 打嗝（兒） /打嗝（儿）to hiccup
- 呃逆 (ènì)to hiccup
Czech zádrhel, háček
- zádrhelminor setback
- háčekminor setback
- škytnutíspasm of the diaphragm
- škytavkaspasm of the diaphragm
- škytatto hiccup
- škytnoutto hiccup
Danish hikke, hik
- hikkespasm of the diaphragm
- hikspasm of the diaphragm
- hikketo hiccup
Dutch tegenvaller, hik
- tegenvallerminor setback
- hikspasm of the diaphragm
- hikkento hiccup
Esperanto obstaklo, malsukceso
- obstaklominor setback
- malsukcesominor setback
- singultospasm of the diaphragm
- singultito hiccup
Estonian luksumine, luksatus
- luksuminespasm of the diaphragm
- luksatusspasm of the diaphragm
- luksumato hiccup
- luksatamato hiccup
Finnish yskintä, takeltelu
- yskintäminor setback
- takelteluminor setback
- hikkaspasm of the diaphragm
- nikotusspasm of the diaphragm
- nikotellato hiccup
- hikotellato hiccup
- hikatato hiccup
French accroc, cahot
- accrocminor setback
- cahotminor setback
- anicrocheminor setback
- obstacleminor setback
- hoquetspasm of the diaphragm
- hoqueterto hiccup
- avoir le hoquetto hiccup
German kleiner Rückschlag, kleines Hindernis
- kleiner Rückschlagminor setback
- kleines Hindernisminor setback
- kleines Problemminor setback
- see Thesaurus:Schluckaufspasm of the diaphragm
- hicksento hiccup
Greek λόξιγκας
- λόξιγκας (lóxigkas)spasm of the diaphragm
Hebrew שיהוק, שיהק
- שיהוק (shihúk)spasm of the diaphragm
- שיהקto hiccup
Hindi हिचकी
- हिचकी (hickī)spasm of the diaphragm
Hungarian csuklás, csuklik
- csuklásspasm of the diaphragm
- csuklikto hiccup
Icelandic hiksti
- hikstispasm of the diaphragm
Indonesian cegukan
- cegukanspasm of the diaphragm
Irish fail, snag
- failspasm of the diaphragm
- snagspasm of the diaphragm
- déan snagto hiccup
- déan failto hiccup
Italian imprevisto, contrattempo
- imprevistominor setback
- contrattempominor setback
- singhiozzospasm of the diaphragm
- singultospasm of the diaphragm
- singhiozzareto hiccup
Japanese しゃっくり, ヒック
- しゃっくり (shakkuri)spasm of the diaphragm
- ヒック (hikku)spasm of the diaphragm
- しゃっくりをする (shakkuri o suru)to hiccup
Korean 딸꾹질, 딸꾹질하다
- 딸꾹질 (ttalkkukjil)spasm of the diaphragm
- 딸꾹질하다 (ttalkkukjilhada)to hiccup
Latin singultus, singulto
- singultusspasm of the diaphragm
- singultoto hiccup
Latvian žagas, žagoties
- žagasspasm of the diaphragm
- žagotiesto hiccup
Lithuanian žagsulys, žagsėti
- žagsulysspasm of the diaphragm
- žagsėtito hiccup
Malay tersedu-sedu
- tersedu-seduto hiccup
Māori tokopuhake, tokomauri
- tokopuhakespasm of the diaphragm
- tokomaurispasm of the diaphragm
- tokopuhaketo hiccup
- tokomaurito hiccup
Norwegian hikke
- hikkespasm of the diaphragm
Norwegian Bokmål hikke
- hikketo hiccup
Persian سکسکه, هکه
- سکسکه (sekseke)spasm of the diaphragm
- هکه (hokke)spasm of the diaphragm
- هکک (hekkak)spasm of the diaphragm
- سکسکه کردن (sekseke kardan)to hiccup
Polish czkawka, czkawka
- czkawkaminor setback
- czkawkaspasm of the diaphragm
- czkaćto hiccup
- czknąćto hiccup
Portuguese soluço, soluçar
- soluçospasm of the diaphragm
- soluçarto hiccup
Romanian sughiț, sughița
- sughițspasm of the diaphragm
- sughițato hiccup
Russian небо́льшой сбой, загво́здка
- небо́льшой сбой (nebólʹšoj sboj)minor setback
- загво́здка (zagvózdka)minor setback
- ико́та (ikóta)spasm of the diaphragm
- ика́ть (ikátʹ)to hiccup
- икну́ть (iknútʹ)to hiccup
Scottish Gaelic aileag
- aileagspasm of the diaphragm
Slovak čkavka, štikútavka
- čkavkaspasm of the diaphragm
- štikútavkaspasm of the diaphragm
- čkaniespasm of the diaphragm
- čkaťto hiccup
- začkaťto hiccup
- zaštikútaťto hiccup
Spanish hipo, singulto
- hipospasm of the diaphragm
- singultospasm of the diaphragm
- hipidospasm of the diaphragm
- jipidospasm of the diaphragm
- jipíospasm of the diaphragm
- hiparto hiccup
- himparto hiccup
- himplarto hiccup
- jipiarto hiccup
- tener hipoto hiccup
- estar con hipoto hiccup
Swahili kwikwi
- kwikwispasm of the diaphragm
Swedish hickning, hicka
- hickningspasm of the diaphragm
- hickato hiccup
Tagalog sinok, sigok
- sinokspasm of the diaphragm
- sigokspasm of the diaphragm
- siyokspasm of the diaphragm
Tamil விக்கல்
- விக்கல் (vikkal)spasm of the diaphragm
Thai สะอึก, สะอึก
- สะอึก (sà-ʉ̀k)spasm of the diaphragm
- สะอึก (sà-ʉ̀k)to hiccup
Turkish hıçkırık, hıçkırmak
- hıçkırıkspasm of the diaphragm
- hıçkırmakto hiccup
Ukrainian ги́кавка, и́кавка
- ги́кавка (hýkavka)spasm of the diaphragm
- и́кавка (ýkavka)spasm of the diaphragm
- і́кавка (íkavka)spasm of the diaphragm
- гика́ти (hykáty)to hiccup
- іка́ти (ikáty)to hiccup
Vietnamese cái nấc, nấc cụt
- cái nấcspasm of the diaphragm
- nấc cụtto hiccup
- nấcto hiccup
Welsh ig, igian
- igspasm of the diaphragm
- igianto hiccup
Yiddish שלוקערץ, שלוקערצן
- שלוקערץ (shlukerts)spasm of the diaphragm
- שלוקערצן (shlukertsn)to hiccup
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hiccup
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
hiccup. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hiccup
“hiccup.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hiccup. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hiccup,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hiccup.
Source: hiccup on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.