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Why is hiccough pronounced hiccup?
However modern spelling first recorded 1788; An Old English word for it was ælfsogoða, so called because hiccups were thought to be caused by elves hiccough 1620s, variant of hiccup by mistaken association with cough.
Do British people say hiccough?
I am British and we spell it as hiccough not hiccup. Hiccup is American spelling which is seemingly phonetic. The use of texting has encouraged a few people to use hiccup as it’s quicker to write.
Is hiccough a real word?
a. A spasm of the diaphragm resulting in a rapid, involuntary inhalation that is stopped by the sudden closure of the glottis and accompanied by a sharp, distinctive sound. b. hiccups also hiccoughs An attack of these spasms.
What does hiccupped mean?
1 : a spasmodic inhalation with closure of the glottis accompanied by a peculiar sound. 2 : an attack of hiccuping —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction. 3a : a slight irregularity, error, or malfunction a few hiccups in the computer system.
Who invented the word hiccup?
Abram Smythe Palmer
hiccup (n.) 1570s, hickop, earlier hicket, hyckock, “a word meant to imitate the sound produced by the convulsion of the diaphragm” [Abram Smythe Palmer, “Folk-Etymology,” London, 1882]. Compare French hoquet, Danish hikke, Persian hikuk, Hindi hichki, etc.
How is thorough pronounced?
THOROUGH is pronounced: ther-o.
What hiccough means?
When was the word hiccup invented?
1580
The English word hiccup (later spelled hiccough) is first recorded in 1580, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. A few decades earlier, English was using the word hicket. This word is a near mirror of the word in Scandinavian languages. Danish and Norwegian have hikke.
Why is it spelled hiccough instead of Hiccup?
The alternative spelling of hiccough results from the association with the word cough. American Charles Osborne had hiccups for 68 years, from 1922 to February 1990, and was entered in the Guinness World Records as the man with the longest attack of hiccups, an estimated 430 million hiccups.
How do you use hiccups in a sentence?
Usually hiccups. the condition of having such spasms: She got the hiccups just as she began to speak. Informal. a minor difficulty, interruption, setback, etc.: a hiccup in the stock market. verb (used without object), hic·cuped or hic·cupped, hic·cup·ing or hic·cup·ping.
Why do we get hiccups and what causes them?
Why we get hiccups. You can hiccup as a result of: an overindulgent meal. a sudden change in temperature. excitement or stress. drinking carbonated drinks or alcohol.
What is a hiccup in the market?
Informal. a minor difficulty, interruption, setback, etc.: a hiccup in the stock market. verb (used without object), hic·cuped or hic·cupped, hic·cup·ing or hic·cup·ping. to make the sound of a hiccup: The motor hiccuped as it started. to have the hiccups. Informal. to experience a temporary decline, setback, interruption, etc.: