# hod

> English word · Verb · IPA /hɒd/ · frequency rank #49,395

## Definitions
1. To bob up and down on horseback, as an inexperienced rider may do; to jog.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Scots hod (“to jog along on horseback”), probably related to hotch (“(verb) to move up and down jerkily, bob; to jog along on horseback; to hop like a frog; to fidget; to shrug; to heave with laughter; to cause to move jerkily; to shift in a sitting position to make room for others; to be overrun with; to swarm; (figuratively) to be angry; (noun) a jerk, jolt; a shrug; a fidget, twitch; a swarm of vermin; large, ungainly woman; untidy woman (figuratively) a hostile encounter, clash; state of disorder and filth, mess”) (whence English hotch (“to move irregularly up and down; to swarm”) (chiefly Scotland)), from Late Middle English hotchen (“to move jerkily, jolt; to attack (someone) (?)”), from Anglo-Norman hocher (“to shake (something) to and fro, jostle; to attack”) and Middle French hocher, Middle French, Old French hochier (“to shake (something) to and fro, jostle; to be unstable or wobbly, shake”) (modern French hocher (“to nod the head”)), from Frankish *hotsōn, *hottisōn, from *hottōn (“to shake; to toss”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hud- (“to shake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ket- or *kwēt- (“to rock back and forth; to shake”), probably originally onomatopoeic.
Compare Scots hotter (“(verb) to move in a jerky, uneven manner; to jolt; to shake; to walk unsteadily, totter; to shiver, shudder; to shake (with laughter); of liquid, etc.: to boil, bubble, seethe, sputter; to crowd, swarm; (noun) jolting or shaking; rattling sound; bubbling of boiling liquid; a shake, shiver; crowd, seething mass; motion or noise of such a crowd; jumbled heap”)).
Cognates
* Middle Dutch hutsen (modern Dutch hutsen (“to jog, jolt; to shake”)), Middle Dutch hotsen (modern Dutch hotsen, hossen (“to shake or swing to and fro; to run quickly”))
* German hotzen (“to shake or swing to and fro; to run quickly”) (Southern Germany)
* Low German hūdern (“to shake; to shudder”)
* Middle High German hozzen (“act of swinging someone to and fro to punish them (?)”)
* Old English hūdenian (“to rock back and forth, shake, sway”)

## Easily confused with
- **HR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hr)
- **HP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hp)
- **HQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hq)
- **Hu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hu)
- **hv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hv)
- **how** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-how)
- **hot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hot)
- **hop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hop)
- **huh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-huh)
- **hug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hug)
- **hub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hub)
- **hon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hon)
- **hut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hut)
- **hum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hum)
- **hog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hog)
- **hue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hue)
- **hoo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hoo)
- **hun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hun)
- **HUD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hud)
- **hwy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hod-vs-hwy)

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