ho

Abbreviation of English Hiri Motu.

ho

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Hiri Motu.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Hiri Motu terms

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /həʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hoʊ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophones: hoe, hoh

From Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), from Old English hō, probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare Dutch ho, German ho, Old French ho! (“hold!, halt!”).

ho

1. (nautical) Used to attract attention to something sighted, usually by lookouts.

   Sail ho! ― Another boat is visible!

   Land ho! ― Land is visible!

   Man ho! ― A town is visible!

   heave-ho

2. halloo; hey; a call to excite attention, or to give notice of approach.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     What noise there, ho?

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:

     Ho! who's within?

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     O ho, O ho! Would't had been done!

   • 1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in Virgidemiarum, Sixe Bookes. First Three Bookes, of Tooth-lesse Satyrs. […], London: […] Thomas Creede, for Robert Dexter, →OCLC:

     Ho! all ye females that would live unshent, / Fly from the reach of Cyned's regiment.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 93:

     "That was a shot! But the captain will be glad! Ho, ho, here we are!" he cried till it was re-echoed from all the hills around.

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 11:

     "So I catch you. You stealer! Ho! Ho!"

   • 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 24:

     "How such swooning daughters can do it, constantly fainting and having hysterics, is a mystery to me," said Muriel Jane. "Ho, they're a pretty sly lot," said Silvander Dan.

3. (rare) Said accompanying a vigorous attack.
   • 1900, Ching Foo, the Yellow Dwarf; Or the Bradys and the Opium Smokers, page 2:

     "I'll hit you again, you thief !” he cried angrily, shaking “Ho-ho-ho!” he croaked.

   • 1955, John Sack, From Here to Shimbashi - Volume 637, page 172:

     It was quite an astonishing show. Colonel Paul Malone of the U.S. Army kept thwacking away with all his might and main, shouting "Ho!"

   • 1999, Mona the Vampire, "Attack of the Living Scarecrow" (season 1, episode 1a):

     Mona: Hee! Ha! Ho! Ha! The brain buffet is closed, buddy! Take that! And this!

   • 2008, Daniel Hellmund, The Answer for Laria, page 93:

     Ho! Take that vile Foresythe!” He snapped his wrist, clicking the stick against the bowed sides of a barrel.

ho

1. A stop; a halt; a moderation of pace.
   • 1604, Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore:

     There is no ho with them.

• 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN

Pronunciation spelling of whore in non-rhotic accents with the dough–door merger, such as some varieties of African American Vernacular English; compare mo (“more”), fo' (“for; four”). The noun first appears c. 1964, whereas the verb first appears c. 1972.

• hoe, 'ho

ho (plural hos or hoes or heaux)

2. (slang, derogatory) A whore; a sexually promiscuous woman; in general use as a highly offensive term of abuse for a woman with connotations of loose sexuality.

   Bros before hoes!

   • 2001, “Psycho”, in Toxicity, performed by Serj Tankian with System of a Down:

     So you want to see the show? You really don't have to be a ho.

   • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 204:

     They was saying the jawn freaked out and called the cops cause all her sorority sistahs started ragging on her and calling her a stank ho for fucking half the basketball team.

   • 2010, Dennis Shields, God Went Fishing‎^[2], page 69:

     "You looking for one of my ho's?" the diminutive man asked Sigmund.
     "A hoe?" Sigmund asked, wondering why the little man wished to sell him farming equipment in the city.
     "You know, a ho. A tute. A honey, A righteous bit of poontang, my brother," he said.
     "I don't follow," Sigmund said.
     "Indubitably, I means a ho, a whore. I can tell you is a player. You want a whore?" he asked.

3. (slang, offensive) A woman in general; a bitch.

• See also Thesaurus:promiscuous woman

ho (third-person singular simple present hoes, present participle hoeing, simple past and past participle hoed)

1. (transitive, intransitive, slang, vulgar) To act as a ho, to prostitute.
   • 2003 November 18, Greywolf Johnson, “Do you know any of these? <g>”, in alt.strange.days‎^[3] (Usenet):

     She holds down a decent job during the day, but is secretly hoeing around with at least 5 different trifling men.

From Middle English howe, houwe, hoȝe, from Old English hogu and hoga, from Proto-Germanic *hugô, *hugiz, *huguz (“mind, thought, understanding”), akin to Old High German hugu, hugi (Middle High German hüge), Old Saxon hugi (Middle Dutch höghe, Dutch heug), Old Norse hugr, Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐍃 (hugs).

• hoe

ho (plural hos)

1. (obsolete) Care, anxiety, trouble, sorrow.
   • 1567, George Turberville, “A. Sani di Cure Aunsweres”, in Heroycall Epistles of Ovid, 155v:

     Though there bee A thousand cares that heape my hoe.

   • 1798, Charlotte Turner Smith, The Young Philosopher, I. 195:

     Him that..this gentlewoman is in such a hoe about.

   • 1869-70, William Barnes, “The Widow’s House”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect‎^[4]:

     But by day to the zun they must rise
     To their true lives o' tweil an' ov ho.

   • 1875, William Douglas Parish, A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect‎^[5] (at cited word):

     I doänt see as you've any call to putt yourself in no such terrible gurt hoe over it.

From Middle English howen, hoȝen, hogien, from Old English hogian, hugian, from Proto-Germanic *hugjaną. Cognate with Middle Scots huik, Old High German hucken, Old Saxon huggjan, Dutch heugen, Old Norse hyggja, Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hugjan).

• hoe

ho

1. (obsolete) To care, be anxious, to long.
   • 1787, F. Grose, Provinc. Gloss (at cited word):

     To ho for anything, to long for any thing. Berks.

   • 1847-78, J. O. Halliwell, Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words:

     Ho...to long for anything; to be careful and anxious. West.

   • 1869-70, William Barnes, The Bells of Alderburnham, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:

     But still 'tis happiness to know That there's a God above us; An' he, by day an' night do ho Vor all ov us an' love us.

   • 1874, T. Hardy, Far from Madding Crowd, II. xxiii. 289:

     To ho and hanker after thik woman.

   • 1888, B. Lowsley, Gloss. Berks. Words & Phrases:

     Ho, to long for; to care greatly for.

• OH, oh, Oh, -oh, Oh.

• hom
• hon

Clipping of home.

• IPA^(key): /ˈo/ [ˈo]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: ho

ho

1. friendly interjection used at the end of a phrase when speaking to someone, "bro", "man"

   ¿Sabíes eso, ho?

   Did you know that, man?

   Vamos pa mio casa, ho

   Let's go to my place, man

2. used closing the sentence to bolster the attention of the listener; emphatic

   ¡Apara yá, ho!

   Stop (it) already, man!

• This interjection is used very frequently in Asturian, more than English man or bro, as such when translating to English many instances of "ho" would not be translated.
• Although "ho" was originally the adult male form, the children equivalent being nin, "ho" is now used extensively for either, without taking into account the receptor's gender or age, while "nin" has largely retained its connotations.
• "Ho" is usually only used at the end of phrases, "home" is used at the beginning.

Eso ye lo qu'hai de facer, ho ― That's what you gotta do, man

Home, eso ye lo qu'hai de facer ― Man, that's what you gotta do

ho (requires hard mutation)

1. your pl

   ho preudeur ― your brothers

Inherited from Latin hoc. Compare Occitan o and ac.

• (Eastern) IPA^(key): /u/, /əw/
• (Western) IPA^(key): /u/, /ew/, /o/
• (Valencia) IPA^(key): /ew/, /u/, /o/

ho (enclitic and proclitic)

1. it (direct object); replaces the demonstrative pronouns açò, això and allò
2. replaces an independent clause (one which could grammatically form a sentence on its own)
3. replaces an adjective or an indefinite noun which serves as the predicate of ésser, esdevenir, estar or semblar

• Ho cannot be used with either en or hi.
• ho is the reinforced (reforçada) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs.

  Ho sabem. ― We know that.

• -ho is the full (plena) form of the pronoun. It is normally used after verbs.

  Puc fer-ho. ― I can do it.

  Deixa-ho. ― Leave it.

ho

1. they

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦo]

• Audio:

  (file)

ho m or n

1. accusative of on

   Synonym: jej

2. accusative of ono

ho

1. (onomatopoeia) Signifies a hearty laugh.

• ha, he, hi, hæ, hø, hår

From Yiddish האָ (ho).

• IPA^(key): /ho/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Audio 3:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: ho

ho (accusative singular ho-on, plural ho-oj, accusative plural ho-ojn)

2. The name of the Latin script letter H/h.

• (Latin-script letter names) litero; a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo, go, ĝo, ho, ĥo, i, jo, ĵo, ko, lo, mo, no, o, po, ro, so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, vo, zo

ho

2. oh

• hu

Compare Karelian ho. An interjection that is found in many languages.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈho/, [ˈho̞]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification^(key): ho
• Hyphenation^(key): ho

ho

1. synonym of oho

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /o/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

ho

1. Used by tamers to calm the animal they are taming, especially horses; whoa

   Ho ! Tout doux ! ― Whoa! Easy!

2. Used to express surprise or shock

   Ho mon Dieu ! ― Oh my God!

• “ho”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From home (“man”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ/

ho!

1. used closing the sentence to bolster the attention of the listener; emphatic

   Para, ho! ― Stop!

   Non o volvo facer! Non ho! ― I'm not doing this again! No way!

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “ho”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “ho”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “ho”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *həqə (“yes; expression of agreement”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈhuʔ/ [ˈhoʔ]
• Rhymes: -uʔ
• Syllabification: ho

hô (Hanunoo spelling ᜱᜳ)

1. yes (word used to indicate agreement or acceptance)

• ho'

• IPA^(key): /ˈhu/ [ˈho]
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: ho

ho (Hanunoo spelling ᜱᜳ) (literary)

1. 1st person nominative pronoun: I; me

   Synonyms: ako, (literary) kaa

• hom

• Conklin, Harold C. (1953), Hanunóo-English Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics), volume 9, London, England: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 128

• o (misspelling)
• ò (obsolete)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ/^*
• (some parts of Central Italy) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ/^°[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔ

ho

1. first-person singular present indicative of avere and (obsolete) havere

ho

1. The hiragana syllable ほ (ho) or the katakana syllable ホ (ho) in Hepburn romanization.

ho

1. obsolete spelling of wó

Probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call).

• hoo

• IPA^(key): /hɔː/

ho

1. stop, hold

• English: ho
• Yola: ho

• “hō, interj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

ho

1. alternative form of who (“who”, nominative)

ho

1. alternative form of he (“he”)

ho

1. alternative form of heo (“she”)

ho

1. alternative form of he (“they”)

ho

1. alternative form of hough (“hough, hock”)

ho

1. alternative form of hough (“promontory”)

ho

1. alternative form of oo (“one”)

ho

1. brittle
2. rude, mean
3. at a loss for words

ho

1. to be in charge, look after

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940), “ho”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

• hò

• IPA^(key): /hɔ¹/

ho

1. (Mường Bi) I; me

From Old Norse hon.

• IPA^(key): /huː/

ho (accusative henne, genitive hennes)

1. (nonstandard, dialectal) she (form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by hun)

• IPA^(key): /huː/, [hu̞ː]
• (Selbu) IPA^(key): [hũ̞ː]

From Old Norse hón, from Proto-Germanic *hēnō (compare *ainaz). Cognate with Icelandic hún, Danish hun and Swedish hon.

ho (accusative ho or henne, genitive hennar)

1. she, it (third person singular, feminine)

   Ho er bestevenninna mi. ― She is my best friend.

2. her

   Synonym: henne

   Eg ser ho. ― I see her.

Unlike other Scandinavian languages, Nynorsk ho is used to refer not only to feminine persons, but any feminine noun. E.g.: Boka er god. Eg likar ho. (“The book is good. I like it.”)

In some dialects, ho may precede a female given name or a definite singular feminine noun. E.g: e(r) ho mang(e) ho klokka no? (“what time is it now?”); det er ho Stine som kjem jo! (“It is Stine who is coming (over there)!”)

• hoe

ho f (definite singular hoa, indefinite plural hoer, definite plural hoene)

1. female

   Hoa legg egga oppe i eit tre. ― The female lays the eggs up in a tree.

• “ho” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Inflection of hōn.

hō

1. first-person singular present indicative of hōn

Probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare Dutch ho, German ho, Old French ho! (“hold!, halt!”).

ho

1. Call of attention.
2. Hey!

• Middle English: ho, hoo
  • English: ho
  • Yola: ho

ho

1. alternative spelling of ó

ho

1. alternative spelling of ó

• hwa

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ho

1. an exclamation

Unknown (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ho

1. areca, coconut palm

Inherited from Proto-Austronesian *hawan (“atmosphere, space between earth and sky”).

ho

1. clear

ho

1. water

• Cornelis L. Voorhoeve, Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist (1975, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics), page 110

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *t͡so.

• IPA^(key): /ho/

• Rhymes: -o

ho (active, intransitive, irregular)

1. to go

   Che aháta che rógape.

   I am going home.

• (che) aha
• (nde) reho
• (ha'e) oho
• (ñande) jaha
• (ore) roho
• (peẽ) peho
• (ha'ekuéra) oho

• Canese, Natalia Krivoshein de; Alcaraz, Feliciano Acosta (2016), “ho”, in Ñe’ẽryru [Dictionary] (overall work in Spanish), Asunción: Instituto Superior de Lenguas, →ISBN, page 30, column 1

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kV-sum.

• IPA^(key): /ɦɔː/

1. 3 (three)

• (Pyu digits):           

ho

1. Used to calm or stop a domestic animal, especially horses; whoa.

   Ho! Ușor! ― Whoa! Easy!

2. (vulgar) Used to calm down a person.

   Ho! Nu mai țipa ! ― Whoa! Stop screaming!

• jeho, neho, oň (after prepositions)

• IPA^(key): /ɦɔ/, [ɦɔ]
• Rhymes: -ɔ

ho

1. genitive/accusative of on and ono

ho c

1. a trough; a long container for feeding or watering animals.
2. a sink; often mounted to a wall; especially a kitchen sink or a washing sink.

   Synonym: diskho

• slasktratt (“sink (for discharging wastewater)”)

See vem.

ho

1. (archaic) who
   • 1541, Gustav Vasa Bible, Esaiah, 40:13-14

     Hoo vnderwisar HERRANS anda/ och hwadh rådhgiffuare lärer honom? Hwem fråghar han om rådh, then honom förstånd giffuer/ och lärer honom rettzens wägh/ och lärer honom klookheet och wijsar honom förståndzens wägh?

     (1873 edition) Ho undervisar Herrans Anda; och hvad rådgifvare lärer honom? Hvem frågar han om råd, den honom förstånd gifver, och lärer honom rättsens väg, och lärer honom klokhet, och viser honom förståndsens väg?

     Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

   Ho äst du?

   Who art thou?

• In earlier Swedish, ho was the nominative case form of vem (spelt hvem), corresponding to the difference between English who and whom. Unlike in English, where the oblique form gives way to the nominative, the reverse has happened in Swedish.

• vem

See hon.

ho

1. (dialectal) alternative form of hon (“she”)

• ho in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ho in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ho in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʔ/ [ˈhoʔ]
• Rhymes: -oʔ
• Syllabification: ho

hô (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜓ)

1. (familiar) honorific particle used while speaking to one's superior, elder, or guest

   Synonym: po

   Taga-saan naman ho kayo? ― Where are you from, sir/madam?

• The word does not appear at a beginning of a sentence unless used alone.
• The word ho is used more on informal, familiar or conversational contexts than po. On some dialects, this is not observed and may even be more used than po.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈho/ [ˈho]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: ho

ho (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜓ)

1. used to stop a horse, usually repeated

• la

• “ho”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018

• Oh, oh

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)kahu, compare Malay kau and Tetum ó.

ho

1. you

• IPA^(key): /ho/

ho

1. class 16 of -o: it

• -aho (“its (class 16)”)

Borrowed from Arabic حَاء (ḥāʔ).

ho (plural holar)

1. the Arabic letter ح

From Proto-Vietic *hɔː.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hɔ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [hɔ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [hɔ˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

ho • (呼)

1. to cough

ho

1. water

• Hosororo

• Languages of hunter-gatherers and their neighbors, citing Andrés Romero-Figueroa, Warao, Lincom Studies in Native American Linguistics 06 (1997, Munich/ Newcastle: Lincom Europa)

From Middle English ho, from Old Norse hó.

• IPA^(key): /hɔː/

ho

1. ho
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 13, page 90:

     Ha-ho! be mee coshes, th'ast ee-pait it, co Joane;

     Hey-ho! by my conscience, you have paid it, quoth John;

• ha-ho

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 90

• IPA^(key): /hó/

hó

1. (transitive, of liquids) to boil
2. (intransitive, of liquids) to become gaseous, to become boiled
3. to form bubbles or lather
4. to roar with noise

   òkún ń hó yee; ọ̀sà ń mì lẹ̀gbẹ̀ ― The sea was roaring; the lagoon was swaying majestically

• bọ́ (“to cook in boiling water”)

• fó (Igbomina)

• IPA^(key): /hó/

hó

1. (transitive) to peel off the skin or bark of something

   Synonym: bó

Cognate with Bouyei hol (“garlic”).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /ho˨˦/
• Tone numbers: ho¹
• Hyphenation: ho

ho (1957–1982 spelling ho)

1. garlic

   Synonym: suenq

• gyaeujho