Meanings
- The tip of a toe of an ungulate such as a horse, ox or deer, strengthened by a thick keratin covering.
[…] I ſee Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter, His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood.
1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2 - datedgeometryAn ungula.
- The heel of a loaf of bread.
present singular third person hoofs · participle present hoofing · participle past hoofed · past hoofed · alternative hoove
- To trample with hooves.
- colloquialTo walk.
- informalTo dance, especially as a professional.
- colloquialtransitivefootball (soccer)To kick, especially to kick a football a long way downfield with little accuracy.
More minutes drifted by. Pierrot had another chance - and missed. At one point the ball fell to Andy Robertson and instead of taking his time and clearing, he hoofed it away as if his life depended on it. His football life, for sure.
2026 June 14, Tom English, “Why Haiti v Scotland was antidote to the ills of world football”, in BBC SportSynonyms: boot
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo kick, especially to kick a football a long way downfield with little accuracy.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱoph₂ós
- Proto-Germanic*hōfaz
- Proto-West Germanic*hōf
- Old Englishhōf
- Middle Englishhof
- Englishhoof
Inherited from Middle English hof, houf, houve, hove, from Old English hōf, from Proto-Germanic *hōfaz (compare West Frisian hoef, Dutch hoef, German Huf, Danish hov, Norwegian hov, Swedish hov), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱoph₂ós (compare Sanskrit शफ (śaphá, “hoof, claw”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬟𐬀 (safa, “hoof”), possibly Czech, Polish kopyto).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὁπλή
- ὁπλή (hoplḗ)tip of a toe of ungulates
Arabic حافِر, ظِلْف
- حافِر (ḥāfir)tip of a toe of ungulates
- ظِلْف (ẓilf)tip of a toe of ungulates
- خُفّ (ḵuff)tip of a toe of ungulates
Basque apo, apatx
- apotip of a toe of ungulates
- apatxtip of a toe of ungulates
Bengali খুর
- খুর (khur)tip of a toe of ungulates
Bulgarian копи́то
- копи́то (kopíto)tip of a toe of ungulates
Catalan peülla
- peüllatip of a toe of ungulates
Chinese Mandarin 蹄, 蹢
- 蹄 (tí)tip of a toe of ungulates
- 蹢 (dí)tip of a toe of ungulates
Czech kopyto
- kopytotip of a toe of ungulates
Danish hov
- hovtip of a toe of ungulates
Dutch hoef
- hoeftip of a toe of ungulates
Esperanto hufo
- hufotip of a toe of ungulates
Estonian kabi
- kabitip of a toe of ungulates
Finnish kavio, sorkka
- kaviotip of a toe of ungulates
- sorkkatip of a toe of ungulates
- sorkkaslang: human foot
French sabot
- sabottip of a toe of ungulates
German Huf
- Huftip of a toe of ungulates
Greek οπλή
- οπλή (oplí)tip of a toe of ungulates
Hawaiian maiʻao
- maiʻaotip of a toe of ungulates
Hebrew פַּרְסָה
- פַּרְסָה (parsá)tip of a toe of ungulates
Hindi खुर
- खुर (khur)tip of a toe of ungulates
Hungarian pata
- patatip of a toe of ungulates
Icelandic hófur, klauf
- hófurtip of a toe of ungulates
- klauftip of a toe of ungulates
Indonesian kuku
- kukutip of a toe of ungulates
Irish crúb
- crúbtip of a toe of ungulates
Italian zoccolo, zampa
- zoccolotip of a toe of ungulates
- zampaslang: human foot
Japanese 蹄
- 蹄 (hizume)tip of a toe of ungulates
Korean 굽, 발굽
- 굽 (gup)tip of a toe of ungulates
- 발굽 (balgup)tip of a toe of ungulates
Latin ungula
- ungulatip of a toe of ungulates
Latvian nags
- nagstip of a toe of ungulates
Lithuanian kanopa
- kanopatip of a toe of ungulates
Malay telapuk
- telapuktip of a toe of ungulates
Māori pāua, kuku
- pāuatip of a toe of ungulates
- kukutip of a toe of ungulates
Norwegian Bokmål hov
- hovtip of a toe of ungulates
Polish kopyto
- kopytotip of a toe of ungulates
Portuguese casco, pata
- cascotip of a toe of ungulates
- patatip of a toe of ungulates
- pezunhotip of a toe of ungulates
- pataslang: human foot
Romanian copită
- copitătip of a toe of ungulates
Russian копы́то
- копы́то (kopýto)tip of a toe of ungulates
Scottish Gaelic ladhar, ìne
- ladhartip of a toe of ungulates
- ìnetip of a toe of ungulates
Slovak kopyto
- kopytotip of a toe of ungulates
Spanish pezuña, casco
- pezuñatip of a toe of ungulates
- cascotip of a toe of ungulates
Swahili ukwato
- ukwatotip of a toe of ungulates
Swedish hov, klöv
- hovtip of a toe of ungulates
- klövtip of a toe of ungulates
Tamil குளம்பு
- குளம்பு (kuḷampu)tip of a toe of ungulates
Thai กีบ
- กีบ (gìip)tip of a toe of ungulates
Turkish tırnak, toynak
- tırnaktip of a toe of ungulates
- toynaktip of a toe of ungulates
Ukrainian копи́то, копито́
- копи́то (kopýto)tip of a toe of ungulates
- копито́ (kopytó)tip of a toe of ungulates
Urdu کُھر
- کُھر (khur)tip of a toe of ungulates
Vietnamese guốc, móng
- guốctip of a toe of ungulates
- móngtip of a toe of ungulates
Welsh carn
- carntip of a toe of ungulates
Yiddish קאָפּעטע
- קאָפּעטע (kopete)tip of a toe of ungulates
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hoof
Cite this entry
hoof. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoof
“hoof.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoof. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hoof,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoof.
Source: hoof on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.