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DUTCH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

haai.

a shark, fish of the superorder Selachimorpha (sometimes also including certain extinct shark-like members of the Elasmobranchii outside this superorder)

4 characters1 syllables approx.Nederlands language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɦaːi̯/
  1. a shark, fish of the superorder Selachimorpha (sometimes also including certain extinct shark-like members of the Elasmobranchii outside this superorder)

    masculine
  2. a ruthless person

    masculine
  3. a greedy person

    masculine
Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch haeye, from Old Norse hár (“shark”), with the /j/ appearing influenced by the declined forms /hajə(n)/. Probably from Proto-Germanic *hanh-u-, related to *hakô (“hook”), referring to the shark's back fin. Cognate with Swedish haj, and German Hai.

noun/ɦaːi̯/
  1. turn, angle, incline.

    East · Flanders · West · masculine · obsolete
    De straat maakt daar eenen haai
    Die beek loopt met veel haaien en draaien.
Where this word comes from

Deverbal from haaien (“to lean”).

adj/ɦaːi̯/
  1. big, strong, firm; fortified

    dated · slang
  2. smart, clever, crafty

    dated
  3. fine, good

    dated · slang
Where this word comes from

A cant term. From haaien (“to play the boss”), from haai (“shark”).

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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.