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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

hate.

An object of hatred.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/heɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hɛɪ̯(ʔ)t̚]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[he̞ɪ̯(ʔ)t̚]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[heː(ʔ)t̚]General-American, Received-Pronunciation

  1. An object of hatred.

    countable · uncountable
    One of my pet hates is traffic wardens.

  2. Hatred.

    countable · uncountable
    He gave me a look filled with pure hate.

  3. Negative feedback, abusive behaviour.

    Internet · countable · metonymically · uncountable
    There was a lot of hate in the comments on my vlog about Lady Gaga from her fans.

  4. Bigotry.

    countable · metonymically · uncountable
    The corporation said it would not tolerate hate.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English haate, hat, hate (noun), probably from Old English hatian (“to hate”, verb) and/or Old Norse hatr (“hate”, noun). Merged with Middle English het, hete (“hate”), from Old English hete, from Proto-West Germanic *hati, from Proto-Germanic *hataz (“hate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₂d- (“angriness, hatred”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch haat (“hatred”), German Hass, Haß (“hate, hatred”), Luxembourgish Haass (“hate, hatred”), Vilamovian hās (“hate, hatred”), Yiddish האַס (has, “hatred”), Danish had (“hate, hatred”), Faroese and Icelandic hatur (“hatred, spite, aversion”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hat (“hate, hatred”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍄𐌹𐍃 (hatis, “hate, wrath”); also Breton and Cornish kas (“hatred”), Old Irish miscuis (“hatred”), Welsh cas (“hatred”), Oscan 𐌊𐌀𐌃𐌄𐌝𐌔 (kadeís, “enmity”), Ancient Greek κῆδος (kêdos, “care for others; troubles; mourning”), Sanskrit रि॒शाद॑स् (riśā́das, “benign or devouring or destroying enemies”). The verb is from Middle English haate, hate, haten, hatenn, hatien, hatiȝen, hatye, hatyn, heatien, from Old English hatian (“to hate, treat as an enemy”), from Proto-West Germanic *hatēn, from Proto-Germanic *hatāną (“to hate”), from Proto-Germanic *hataz, from the same root as above. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian hoatje (“to hate”), West Frisian haatsje (“to hate”), Cimbrian haazan (“to hate”), Dutch haten (“to hate”), German hassen (“to hate”), Luxembourgish haassen (“to hate”), Yiddish האַסן (hasn, “to hate”), Danish hade (“to hate”), Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish hata (“to hate”), Norwegian Bokmål hate (“to hate”), Norwegian Nynorsk hata, hate (“to hate”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌽 (hatan, “to hate”).

verb/heɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hɛɪ̯(ʔ)t̚]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[he̞ɪ̯(ʔ)t̚]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[heː(ʔ)t̚]General-American, Received-Pronunciation

  1. To dislike intensely or greatly.

    transitive
    As a kid, I used to hate to cycle to school every morning.
    I hate to say it, but I know we're going to lose.

  2. To experience a feeling of hatred.

    intransitive

  3. Used in a phrasal verb: hate on.

    informal · slang
    I put ranch dressing on pizza. Please don't hate on me.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English haate, hat, hate (noun), probably from Old English hatian (“to hate”, verb) and/or Old Norse hatr (“hate”, noun). Merged with Middle English het, hete (“hate”), from Old English hete, from Proto-West Germanic *hati, from Proto-Germanic *hataz (“hate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₂d- (“angriness, hatred”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch haat (“hatred”), German Hass, Haß (“hate, hatred”), Luxembourgish Haass (“hate, hatred”), Vilamovian hās (“hate, hatred”), Yiddish האַס (has, “hatred”), Danish had (“hate, hatred”), Faroese and Icelandic hatur (“hatred, spite, aversion”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish hat (“hate, hatred”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍄𐌹𐍃 (hatis, “hate, wrath”); also Breton and Cornish kas (“hatred”), Old Irish miscuis (“hatred”), Welsh cas (“hatred”), Oscan 𐌊𐌀𐌃𐌄𐌝𐌔 (kadeís, “enmity”), Ancient Greek κῆδος (kêdos, “care for others; troubles; mourning”), Sanskrit रि॒शाद॑स् (riśā́das, “benign or devouring or destroying enemies”). The verb is from Middle English haate, hate, haten, hatenn, hatien, hatiȝen, hatye, hatyn, heatien, from Old English hatian (“to hate, treat as an enemy”), from Proto-West Germanic *hatēn, from Proto-Germanic *hatāną (“to hate”), from Proto-Germanic *hataz, from the same root as above. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian hoatje (“to hate”), West Frisian haatsje (“to hate”), Cimbrian haazan (“to hate”), Dutch haten (“to hate”), German hassen (“to hate”), Luxembourgish haassen (“to hate”), Yiddish האַסן (hasn, “to hate”), Danish hade (“to hate”), Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish hata (“to hate”), Norwegian Bokmål hate (“to hate”), Norwegian Nynorsk hata, hate (“to hate”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌽 (hatan, “to hate”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.