hitscan

H4I1T1S1C3A1N1

noun

A calculation to find the point at which a given line intersects an object in the game world, commonly used to determine whether a bullet or projectile hits a target.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounhitscan (plural hitscans)

plural hitscans

  1. computingA calculation to find the point at which a given line intersects an object in the game world, commonly used to determine whether a bullet or projectile hits a target.

    With this code the server now has enough information to perform hitscans: it has the position of the player, the player orientation, and the player look direction (camera rotation).

    2013, Alan R. Stagner, Unity Multiplayer Games
    1 more example

    Duel maps usually do not contain super weapons (eg, the Redeemer which fires a small nuclear warhead), but have one or two hitscan weapons (which when fired instantly hit whatever they are pointing at) and one or two projectile weapons (eg, a rocket launcher).

    2014, L. Galli, P. L. Lanzi, D. Loiacono, Applying data mining to extract design patterns from Unreal Tournament levels

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂id-néh₂-ti
  3. Proto-Germanic*hittijaną
  4. Old Norsehitta
  5. Old Englishhyttan
  6. Middle Englishhitten
  7. Englishhit
  8. Proto-Indo-European*skend-
  9. Proto-Italic*skandō
  10. Latinscandō
  11. Middle Englishscanden
  12. Middle Englishscanne
  13. Englishscan
  14. Englishhitscan

From hit + scan.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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