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Added 8 October 2026

hook

/hʊk/ noun

In Latin: hāmus, uncus Wiktionary

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

A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.

verb

To attach a hook to.
Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away.
To become attached, as by a hook.
The utensil holder hooks onto the side of the dishrack.
To catch with a hook .
He hooked a snake accidentally, and was so scared he dropped his rod into the water.

Origin

From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc (“angle, point, hook”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”). Cognates Cognate with Scots huke, huik (“hook”), West Frisian and Dutch hoek (“hook, angle, corner”), Low German Hook, Huuk, German Hook (“small cluster of farms”), Faroese høkja (“crutch”), Icelandic hækja (“crutch”), Norn hek (“crutch”), Finnish kuokka (“hoe, mattock”). Related to hake.

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

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