# hat

> English word · Noun · IPA /hæt/ · frequency rank #2,835

## Definitions
1. A covering for the head, often in the approximate form of a cone, dome or cylinder closed at its top end, and sometimes having a brim and other decoration.
2. A particular role or capacity that a person might fill.
3. Any receptacle from which names or numbers are pulled out in a lottery.
4. Any receptacle from which names or numbers are pulled out in a lottery.
5. A hat switch.
6. The circumflex symbol.
7. The háček symbol.
8. The caret symbol ^.
9. User rights on a website, such as the right to edit pages others cannot.
10. A student who is also the son of a nobleman (and so allowed to wear a hat instead of a mortarboard).

## Etymology
From Middle English hat, from Old English hætt, from Proto-Germanic *hattuz (“hat”), perhaps from a late PIE root Proto-Indo-European *kedʰ- (“to guard, cover, care for, protect”) or wanderwort.
Cognate with North Frisian hat (“hat”), Danish hat (“hat”), Swedish hatt (“hat”), Icelandic hattur (“hat”), Finnish hattu (“hat”), Latin cassis (“helmet”), Lithuanian kudas (“bird's crest or tuft”), Avestan 𐬑𐬀𐬊𐬛𐬀 (xaoda, “hat”), Persian خود (xud, “helmet”), Welsh cadw (“to provide for, ensure”). Compare also hood.

## Easily confused with
- **he** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-he)
- **hi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hi)
- **HD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hd)
- **ho** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-ho)
- **HR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hr)
- **HP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hp)
- **hm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hm)
- **HQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hq)
- **hc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hc)
- **Hu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hu)
- **HK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hk)
- **HB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hb)
- **HG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hg)
- **HH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hh)
- **hv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hv)
- **hn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hn)
- **his** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-his)
- **her** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-her)
- **how** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-how)
- **him** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-him)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hat