habit

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæbɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈhæbət/
• Rhymes: -æbɪt

From Middle English habit, from Latin habitus (“condition, bearing, state, appearance, dress, attire”), from habeō (“I have, hold, keep”). Replaced Middle English abit, from Old French abit, itself from the same Latin source. Displaced native Old English þēaw.

habit (countable and uncountable, plural habits)

1. An action performed on a regular basis.

   Synonym: wont

   It’s become a habit of mine to have a cup of coffee after dinner.

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

     a man of very shy, retired habits

   • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

     Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

2. An action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness.

   By force of habit, he dressed for work even though it was holiday.

3. An addiction.

   kick the habit

   He has a 10-cigar habit.

   • 2000, “I'm With Stupid”, in WYSIWYG, performed by Chumbawamba:

     Another white boy band / They're happy on demand / Everything is planned / Until the singer gets a habit

• exhibit
• habitual
• habituate
• habitus
• inhibit
• prohibit

From Middle English habiten, from Old French habiter, from Latin habitāre, present active infinitive of habitō (“I dwell, abide, keep”), frequentative of habeō (“I have, hold, keep”); see have.

habit (third-person singular simple present habits, present participle habiting, simple past and past participle habited)

1. (transitive) To clothe.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 132:

     Here I began my shopping, was interviewed by dressmakers, and naturally had much to do to habit myself for civilized life again.

2. (transitive, archaic) To inhabit.

habit (countable and uncountable, plural habits)

1. A long piece of clothing worn by monks and nuns.

   It’s interesting how Catholic and Buddhist monks both wear habits.

2. A piece of clothing worn for a specific activity; a uniform.

   The new riding habits of the team looked smashing!

   • 2015, Alison Matthews David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, →ISBN, page 34:

     Sidesaddle riding habits were prestigious tailored sportswear appropriate for the equestrian pursuits of the truly wealthy.

3. (archaic) Outward appearance; attire; dress.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     Noble and milde this Perſean ſeemes to be,
     If outward habit Iudge the inward man.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy.

   • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     There are, among the statues, several of Venus, in different habits.

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

     […] it was always my fate to choose for the worse, so I did here; for having money in my pocket and good clothes upon my back, I would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman; and so I neither had any business in the ship, or learned to do any.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Emperor of Lilliput, Attended by Several of the Nobility, Come to See the Author in His Confinement. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 30:

     There were ſeveral of his Prieſts and Lawyers preſent, (as I conjectured by their habits) who were commanded to addreſs themſelves to me, and I ſpoke to them in as many Languages as I had the leaſt ſmattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spaniſh, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpoſe.

4. (botany, mineralogy) Form of growth or general appearance and structure of a variety or species of plant or crystal.

• habitat
• habitation

• “habit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “habit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Ba'thi

According to Orel, borrowed from a South Slavic language and ultimately derived from Proto-Slavic *xabiti (“to spoil, to waste”). Compare Old Church Slavonic хабити (xabiti), Serbo-Croatian habiti (“damage, destroy”), and Bulgarian хабя (habja, “destroy, spend; blunt”).[1][2][3]

• IPA^(key): /haˈbit/

habit (aorist habita, participle habitur)

1. to surprise
2. to astonish
3. to distract, confuse

• habi
• habitshëm
• habitur
• habitje
• habitore

Inherited from Old French habit, abit, borrowed from Latin habitus.

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi/

• Audio

  (file)

habit m (plural habits)

1. article of clothing, garment, dress-coat, evening dress, tails, full dress

• l’habit ne fait pas le moine
• prendre l’habit

• habiller
• habillement

• → German: Habit

• “habit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

habit oblique singular, m (oblique plural habiz or habitz, nominative singular habiz or habitz, nominative plural habit)

1. Alternative form of abit

Borrowed from Latin habitus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxa.bit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abit
• Syllabification: ha‧bit

habit m inan (diminutive habicik)

1. habit (clothing worn by monks and nuns)

• habit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• habit in Polish dictionaries at PWN