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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

hood.

A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/hʊd/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hʊ̈d]General-American[hɪ̈d]General-American/hɵd/British, Southern, Standard

  1. A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak. A head covering placed on falcons to inhibit their vision.

  2. A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak. A head and neck covering placed on horses to protect against insects and sunlight, to slow coat growth and for warmth.

  3. A distinctively colored fold of material, representing a university degree.

  4. An enclosure that protects something, especially from above.

  5. Particular parts of conveyances A soft top of a convertible car or carriage.

    UK

  6. Particular parts of conveyances The hinged cover over the engine of a motor vehicle, known as a bonnet in other countries.

    Canada · US

  7. Particular parts of conveyances A cover over the engine, driving machinery or inner workings of something.

    broadly · especially

  8. Particular parts of conveyances A metal covering that leads to a vent to suck away smoke or fumes.

  9. Particular parts of conveyances One of the endmost planks (or, one of the ends of the planks) in a ship’s bottom at bow or stern, that fits into the rabbet. (These, when fit into the rabbet, resemble a hood (covering).)

  10. Various body parts An expansion on the sides of the neck typical for many elapids e.g. the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) and Indian cobra (Naja naja).

  11. Various body parts The osseous or cartilaginous marginal extension behind the back of many a dinosaur such as a ceratopsid and reptiles such as Chlamydosaurus kingii.

    colloquial

  12. Various body parts In the human hand, over the extensor digitorum, an expansion of the extensor tendon over the metacarpophalangeal joint (the extensor hood syn. dorsal hood syn. lateral hood)

  13. Various body parts The prepuce; the foreskin or clitoral hood.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian and Dutch hoed (“hat”), Cimbrian huat, huut (“hat”), German Hut (“hat”), German Low German Hood (“hat; hood”), Luxembourgish Hutt (“hat”); also Proto-Iranian *xawdaH (“hat”) (Avestan 𐬑𐬂𐬛𐬀 (xåda), Old Persian 𐎧𐎢𐎭 (x-u-d /⁠xaudā⁠/)). More at hat.

verb/hʊd/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hʊ̈d]General-American[hɪ̈d]General-American/hɵd/British, Southern, Standard

  1. To cover (something) with a hood.

    transitive

  2. To extend out from (something), in the manner of a hood.

    transitive

  3. To grow over the eyelid but not the eye itself.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian and Dutch hoed (“hat”), Cimbrian huat, huut (“hat”), German Hut (“hat”), German Low German Hood (“hat; hood”), Luxembourgish Hutt (“hat”); also Proto-Iranian *xawdaH (“hat”) (Avestan 𐬑𐬂𐬛𐬀 (xåda), Old Persian 𐎧𐎢𐎭 (x-u-d /⁠xaudā⁠/)). More at hat.

noun/hʊd/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hʊ̈d]General-American[hɪ̈d]General-American/hɵd/British, Southern, Standard

  1. Gangster, thug.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Clipping of hoodlum.

adj/hʊd/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hʊ̈d]General-American[hɪ̈d]General-American/hɵd/British, Southern, Standard

  1. Relating to inner-city everyday life, both positive and negative aspects; especially people’s attachment to and love for their neighborhoods.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Clipping of neighborhood; compare nabe.

noun/hʊd/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hʊ̈d]General-American[hɪ̈d]General-American/hɵd/British, Southern, Standard

  1. A neighborhood.

    slang
    What’s goin’ down in the hood?

  2. Any poor suburb or neighbourhood.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Clipping of neighborhood; compare nabe.

noun/hʊd/Australia, General-American, Received-Pronunciation[hʊ̈d]General-American[hɪ̈d]General-American/hɵd/British, Southern, Standard

  1. Person wearing a hoodie.

    UK
Where this word comes from

Clipping of hoodie, influenced by existing sense “hoodlum”.

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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.