# hug

> English word · Noun · IPA /hʌɡ/ · frequency rank #6,147

## Definitions
1. A close embrace, especially when charged with an emotion such as affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, aggression, compassion, and the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace or "little hug").
2. A particular grip in wrestling.

## Etymology
From earlier hugge (“to embrace, clasp with the arms”) (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck (“to crouch, huddle down”) and Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, console”), from hugr (“mind, heart, thought”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“mind, thought, sense”), cognate with Icelandic hugga (“to comfort”), Old English hyġe (“thought”) (whence high (Etymology 2)).

## Easily confused with
- **hv** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hv)
- **huh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-huh)
- **hut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hut)
- **hum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hum)
- **hun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hun)
- **hwy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hwy)
- **hye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hye)
- **hui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hui)
- **Hur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hur)
- **Hus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hus)
- **Huw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-huw)
- **huge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-huge)
- **hurt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hurt)
- **hunt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hunt)
- **hung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hung)
- **hull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hull)
- **Hugh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hugh)
- **Hugo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hugo)
- **hulk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hulk)
- **hugs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hug-vs-hugs)

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