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Added 9 October 2026

hacker

/hækə/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hacker at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Someone who hacks. One who cuts with heavy or rough blows.
a tennis hacker
One who cuts with heavy or rough blows.
One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity, especially , a sport such as golf or tennis.
a tennis hacker

noun

One who operates a taxicab; a cabdriver.

verb

To speak with a spasmodic repetition of vocal sounds; to stammer, to stutter; also, to mumble and procrastinate in one's speech; to hem and haw.

Origin

From Late Middle English hackere, hakker, hakkere (“one who cuts wood, woodchopper, woodcutter; (rare) tool for cutting wood”), from hakken, hacke (“to cut (something) with a chopping action, hack; to make a chopping action”) + -er(e) (suffix forming agent nouns). Hakken is derived from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; a handle; a hook; a peg”). The English word may be analysed as hack (“to chop or cut down in a rough manner”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

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

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