# hide

> English word · Verb · IPA /haɪd/ · frequency rank #2,794

## Definitions
1. To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.
2. To put oneself in a place where one will be out of sight or harder to find.

## Etymology
From Middle English hiden, huden, from Old English hȳdan (“to hide, conceal, preserve”), from Proto-West Germanic *huʀdijan (“to conceal”), from Proto-Germanic *huzdijaną (“to hoard”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewdʰ- (“to cover, wrap, encase”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”).
The verb was originally weak. In the King James Version of the Bible (1611), both hid and hidden are used for the past participle.
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch huiden, Low German (ver)hüden, (ver)hüen (“to hide, cover, conceal”), Welsh cuddio (“to hide”), Latin custōs, Ancient Greek κεύθω (keúthō, “to conceal”), Sanskrit कुहरम् (kuharam, “cave”). Related to hut and sky.

## Easily confused with
- **his** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-his)
- **him** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-him)
- **hit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hit)
- **hip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hip)
- **HIV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hiv)
- **hue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hue)
- **HUD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hud)
- **hoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hoe)
- **hye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hye)
- **hse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hse)
- **hin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hin)
- **hod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hod)
- **home** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-home)
- **high** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-high)
- **hope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hope)
- **huge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-huge)
- **hill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hill)
- **hole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hole)
- **hits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hits)
- **hire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hide-vs-hire)

## Common misspellings (5)
`hdie`, `hhide`, `hidde`, `hied`, `ihde`

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