hiccup.
A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound.
Meaning & usage
A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound.
There was a loud hiccup from the back of the room and the class erupted in laughter.
A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound. A case of the hiccups; the condition of having the spasms of hiccupping; singultus; diaphragmatic myoclonus.
Any spasm or sudden change.
A minor obstacle or setback.
There's been a slight hiccup in the processing of this quarter's results.
Where this word comes from
From earlier hickop, alteration of earlier hicket, hyckock, from hic (onomatopoeic) + -ock (diminutive suffix). Akin to Scots hick, hix (“hiccup”), West Frisian hik (“hiccup”), Dutch hik (“hiccup”), Middle Low German hükup, huckup, hueckup (modern Low German hick (“hiccup”)), German hicksen (“to hiccup”, verb), Alemannic German Hidsgi (“hiccup”), Danish hikke (“hiccup”), Swedish hicka (“hiccup”), hicka (“to hiccup”, verb), Icelandic hiksti (“hiccup”). Displaced yex, from Middle English yexen, ȝisken, ȝixen, ȝoxen (“to hiccup”), from Old English ġiscian, ġeocsian (“to hiccup”).
To produce a hiccup; have the hiccups.
To say with a hiccup.
"I haven't touched a drop, officer," the suspect hiccupped.
To produce an abortive sound like a hiccup.
The car engine hiccupped but wouldn't start.
Where this word comes from
From earlier hickop, alteration of earlier hicket, hyckock, from hic (onomatopoeic) + -ock (diminutive suffix). Akin to Scots hick, hix (“hiccup”), West Frisian hik (“hiccup”), Dutch hik (“hiccup”), Middle Low German hükup, huckup, hueckup (modern Low German hick (“hiccup”)), German hicksen (“to hiccup”, verb), Alemannic German Hidsgi (“hiccup”), Danish hikke (“hiccup”), Swedish hicka (“hiccup”), hicka (“to hiccup”, verb), Icelandic hiksti (“hiccup”). Displaced yex, from Middle English yexen, ȝisken, ȝixen, ȝoxen (“to hiccup”), from Old English ġiscian, ġeocsian (“to hiccup”).
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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.