different between hag vs haw

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hæ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

From Middle English hagge, hegge (“demon, old woman”), shortening of Old English hægtesse, hægtes (“harpy, witch”), from Proto-Germanic *hagatusj? (compare Saterland Frisian Häkse (“witch”), Dutch heks, German Hexe (“witch”)), compounds of (1) *hagaz (“able, skilled”) (compare Old Norse hagr (“handy, skillful”), Middle High German behac (“pleasurable”)), from Proto-Indo-European *?ak- (compare Sanskrit ??????? (?aknóti, “he can”)), and (2) *tusj? (“witch”) (compare dialectal Norwegian tysja (“fairy, she-elf”)).

Noun

hag (plural hags)

1. A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a wizard.
2. (derogatory) An ugly old woman.
3. A fury; a she-monster.
   • 1646, Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple, “Sospetto D' Herode”, stanza 37:

     Fourth of the cursed knot of hags is she / Or rather all the other three in one; / Hell's shop of slaughter she does oversee, / And still assist the execution

4. A hagfish; one of various eel-like fish of the family Myxinidae, allied to the lamprey, with a suctorial mouth, labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings.
5. A hagdon or shearwater; one of various sea birds of the genus Puffinus.
6. (obsolete) An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a man's hair.
7. The fruit of the hagberry, Prunus padus.
8. (slang) sleep paralysis

Synonyms

• (witch or sorceress): See Thesaurus:magician
• (ugly old woman): See Thesaurus:ugly woman
• (eel-like marine fish): borer, hagfish, sleepmarken, slime eel, sucker, myxinid
• (sea bird): hagdon, haglet, shearwater
• (fruit of the hagberry): bird cherry, hackberry

Derived terms

• fag hag

Translations

Etymology 2

From Scots hag (“to cut”), from Old Norse h?gg (“cut, gap, breach”), derivative of h?ggva (“to hack, hew”); compare English hew.

Noun

hag (plural hags)

1. A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or enclosed for felling, or which has been felled.
2. A quagmire; mossy ground where peat or turf has been cut.

Etymology 3

From Proto-Germanic *hag(g)?nan (compare obsolete Dutch hagen (“to torment, agonize”), Norwegian haga (“to tire, weaken”)).

Verb

hag (third-person singular simple present hags, present participle hagging, simple past and past participle hagged)

1. (transitive) To harass; to weary with vexation.

References

Further reading

• Hag in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• HGA, agh, gah, gha

Breton

Conjunction

hag

1. and

Synonyms

• (before consonants or /j/) ha

Cornish

Conjunction

hag

1. and

Synonyms

• (before consonants) ha

Danish

Verb

hag

1. imperative of hage

Scots

Etymology 1

From Middle English haggen (“to hack, chop, cut”), from Old Norse h?ggva (“to hew”). Compare English hag, above. Noun attested from the 14th century in Older Scots, with the verb from c. 1400.

Alternative forms

• hagg
• haag, haug

Noun

hag (plural hags)

1. a notch; a pit or break
2. a stroke of an axe or similar instrument
3. the felling of timber; the quantity of wood felled
4. a quagmire from which peat or turf is cut

Verb

hag (third-person singular present hags, present participle haggin, past hagg'd, past participle haggit)

1. to chop (wood); to hack; to dig out (coal etc.)
2. (figuratively) to make a hash of (something)
3. to cut down trees and prepare timber

Etymology 2

Unknown. Perhaps from Etymology 1 above, “to hack”, thus “castrate”. Compare hogg (“a young sheep”). Attested from the 19th century.

Noun

hag (plural hags)

1. an ox
2. a cattleman, one who raises cattle or oxen

   Synonym: hagman

Etymology 3

From Icelandic hagga (“to budge; to put out of place”). Attested from the 20th century.

Verb

hag (third-person singular present hags, present participle haggin, past hagg'd, past participle haggit)

1. to hinder; to impede

References

• “hag, v¹, n¹.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, ?OCLC
• “hag, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, ?OCLC
• “hag, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, ?OCLC
• “haggen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “hag, n².”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, ?OCLC
• “hag, v².”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, ?OCLC

Westrobothnian

Etymology

From Old Saxon hago (“enclosure”). Doublet of haga.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [h???], [hæ??]

  Rhymes: -á??, -???

  (a-o merger) Rhymes: -????, -????

Noun

hag n (definite hagjä)

1. simple fence or enclosure made of sticks, twigs or bushes
2. (hunting) such a construction used for hunting, with openings with snares and traps where birds and hares are caught

Derived terms

• ryphag

Related terms

• hååg
• haga
• hägi

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA^(key): /h??/
• (General American, US) IPA^(key): /h??/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

Imitative

Interjection

haw

1. An imitation of laughter, often used to express scorn or disbelief. Often doubled or tripled (haw haw or haw haw haw).

   You think that song was good? Haw!

2. An intermission or hesitation of speech, with a sound somewhat like "haw"; the sound so made.
   • 1720, William Congreve, An Impossible Thing

     Hums or haws.

Usage notes

• (an imitation of laughter): In the US, haw is rare (it was more used in the past), with ha being more common.

Translations

Verb

haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)

1. To stop, in speaking, with a sound like haw; to speak with interruption and hesitation.

Derived terms

• hum and haw, hem and haw

Etymology 2

From Middle English hawe, from Old English haga (“enclosure, hedge”), from Proto-Germanic *hagô (compare West Frisian haach, Dutch haag, German Hag (“hedged farmland”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kag?om (compare Welsh cae (“hedge”), Latin caulae (“sheepfold, enclosure”), cohum (“strap between plowbeam and yoke”), Russian ??? (koš, “tent”), ??????? (košára, “sheepfold”), Sanskrit ???? (kak?a, “curtain wall”)), from *kag?- 'to catch, grasp' (compare Welsh cau (“to clasp”), Oscan kahad (“may he seize”), Albanian kam, ke (“to have, hold”)).

Noun

haw (plural haws)

1. Fruit of the hawthorn.

   Synonym: hawthorn berry

2. (historical) A hedge.

Derived terms

• apple haw (Crataegus aestivalis)
• black haw
• crimson haw (Crataegus biltmoriana)
• downy haw
• hawthorn
• hog's haw (Crataegus brachyacantha)
• mayhaw (Crataegus aestivalis)
• parsley haw (Crataegus marshallii)
• pear haw (esp. Crataegus tomentosa)
• possum haw
• purple haw (Condalia obovata)
• red haw
• rose haw
• scarlet haw (esp. Crataegus biltmoriana)
• Shawnee haw (Vibrnum nudum)
• summer haw (Crataegus aestivalis)
• swamp haw (Viburnum nudum)

Translations

Etymology 3

Unknown.

Interjection

haw

1. An instruction for a horse or other animal to turn towards the driver, typically left (See gee).

Translations

Verb

haw (third-person singular simple present haws, present participle hawing, simple past and past participle hawed)

1. (of an animal) To turn towards the driver, typically to the left.

   Antonym: gee

2. To cause (an animal) to turn left.

   Antonym: gee

Derived terms

Etymology 4

Uncertain.

Noun

haw (plural haws)

1. (anatomy) The third eyelid, or nictitating membrane.
2. A disease of the nictitating membrane.

Anagrams

• WHA, Wah, wah, wha

Jingpho

Etymology

Borrowed from Burmese ??? (hau:)

Verb

haw

1. to preach

References

• Kurabe, Keita (2016-12-31) , “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research?^[1], volume 35, DOI:10.14989/219015, ISSN 1349-7804, pages 91–128

Kalasha

Etymology

From Sanskrit ?? (hala), from Proto-Indo-European *??h?ol-. Cognate with Lithuanian žúolis.

Noun

haw

1. plough

Middle English

Noun

haw

1. Alternative form of hawe

Scanian

Etymology

From Old Norse haf, from Proto-Germanic *hab?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [h???]

Noun

haw n (definite singular haweð, plural haw)

1. sea

Derived terms