different between hardship vs havoc

English

Etymology

From Middle English hardshipe, equivalent to hard +? -ship.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h??d???p/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??d???p/
• Hyphenation: hard?ship

Noun

hardship (countable and uncountable, plural hardships)

1. Difficulty or trouble; hard times.

Antonyms

• softship

Translations

Verb

hardship (third-person singular simple present hardships, present participle hardshipping, simple past and past participle hardshipped)

1. (transitive) To treat (a person) badly; to subject to hardships.
   • 1969, Tract Series (issues 96-129, page 529)

     […] an adjustment of the income tax could easily produce the twenty millions without hardshipping any industrious person in the community […]

English

Alternative forms

• havock (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hæv.?k/

Noun

havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)

1. widespread devastation, destruction

   • Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
2. mayhem

Usage notes

The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.

Derived terms

• play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

Translations

Verb

havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)

1. To pillage.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:

     To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

2. To cause havoc.

Usage notes

As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, the gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

Translations

Interjection

havoc

1. A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.

   • Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.

References