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Added 9 October 2026

hack

/hæk/ noun

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hack at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

One who works hard at boring tasks.
A politician who belongs to a small clique that controls a political party for private rather than public ends.
A mediocre and disdained writer.

verb

Cut with a hacking tool.
Be able to manage or manage successfully.
I can't hack it anymore
Cut away.
he hacked his way through the forest

Origin

From Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian häkje (“to hack”), West Frisian hakje (“to hack”), Dutch hakken (“to chop up; hack”), German hacken (“to chop; hack; hoe”), Danish hakke (“to chop”), Swedish hacka (“to hack; chop”), French hacher (“to chop”). Related to hatch. The computer senses date back to at least 1955 when it initially referred to creative problem solving.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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