hocket

H4O1C3K5E1T1

noun

In medieval music, a rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. A single melody is shared between two (or occasionally more) voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

nounhocket (countable and uncountable, plural hockets)

plural hockets · alternative hoquet

  1. countableuncountableentertainmentIn medieval music, a rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. A single melody is shared between two (or occasionally more) voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.

    Hocket is a contrapuntal technique described by the early fourteenth-century Walter Odington as "A truncation … made over the tenor … in such a way that one voice is always silent while the other sings."

    1977, Lloyd Ultan, Music theory: problems and practices in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, U of Minnesota Press, page 91
  2. countableuncountablearchitectureA narrow passageway or opening between buildings, typically designed to facilitate access or movement between separate architectural structures.
  3. countableuncountableAny small gap or opening; often used to describe a narrow space that allows for movement or connection between two areas.

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Frenchhoquet“hiccup”
  2. Englishhocket

From French hoquet (“hiccup”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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