hide

pronunciation

How to pronounce hide in British English: UK [haɪd] word uk audio image

How to pronounce hide in American English: US [haɪd] word us audio image

Noun:

the dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal)
body covering of a living animal
Verb:

prevent from being seen or discovered
be or go into hiding; keep out of sight, as for protection and safety
cover as if with a shroud
make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing

Word Origin

hide: hide: English has two words hide in current usage, probably from an identical Indo-European source. The verb, ‘conceal’ [OE], which has no living relatives among the Germanic languages, comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *khūdjan. This was derived from a base which probably also produced English hoard, huddle, and hut, and goes back to Indo-European *keudh-, source also of Greek keúthein ‘cover, hide’, Welsh cuddio ‘hide’, and Breton kuzat ‘hide’. Hide ‘skin’ [OE] and its Germanic relatives, German haut, Dutch huid, and Swedish and Danish hud, come ultimately from Indo-European *keut-, which also produced Latin cutis ‘skin’ (source of English cuticle [17] and cutaneous [16]) and Welsh cwd ‘scrotum’.The semantic link between the two hides is ‘covering’.=> hoard, huddle, hut; cutaneous, cuticle

hide (v.1): Old English hydan "to hide, conceal; preserve; hide oneself; bury a corpse," from West Germanic *hudjan (cognates: Middle Dutch, Middle Low German huden), from PIE *keudh- (source also of Greek keuthein "to hide, conceal"), from root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (see hide (n.1)). Hide and seek (by 1670s), children's game, replaced earlier all hid (1580s).

hide (n.1): "skin of a large animal," Old English hyd "hide, skin," from Proto-Germanic *hudiz (cognates: Old Norse huð, Old Frisian hed, Middle Dutch huut, Dutch huid, Old High German hut, German Haut "skin"), related to Old English verb hydan "to hide," the common notion being of "covering." All of this is from PIE root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (cognates: Sanskrit kostha "enclosing wall," skunati "covers;" Armenian ciw "roof;" Latin cutis "skin," scutum "shield," ob-scurus "dark;" Greek kytos "a hollow, vessel," keutho "to cover, to hide," skynia "eyebrows;" Russian kishka "gut," literally "sheath;" Lithuanian kiautas "husk," kutis "stall;" Old Norse sky "cloud;" Old English sceo "cloud;" Middle High German hode "scrotum;" Old High German scura, German Scheuer "barn;" Welsh cuddio "to hide"). The alliterative pairing of hide and hair (often negative, hide nor hair) was in Middle English (early 15c.), but earlier and more common was hide ne hewe, literally "skin and complexion ('hue')" (c. 1200).

hide (n.2): "measure of land" (obsolete), Old English hid "hide of land," earlier higid, from hiw- "family" (related to hiwan "household," hiwo "a husband, master of a household"), from Proto-Germanic *hiwido-, from PIE *keiwo- (source also of Latin civis "citizen"), from root *kei- "to lie; bed, couch; beloved, dear" (see cemetery, and compare city). The notion was of "amount of land needed to feed one free family and dependents," usually 100 or 120 acres, but the amount could be as little as 60, depending on the quality of the land. Often also defined as "as much land as could be tilled by one plow in a year." Translated in Latin as familia.