hep
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hɛp/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɛp
Etymology 1
Shortening.
Usage notes
Etymology 2
Alteration of hip.
Etymology 3
US slang of unknown or disputed origin, first recorded 1903.[1] Robert Gold suggested that it is a variant of hip, from white jazz fans’ mishearing African American musicians.[2] Jonathon Green suggests a connection to a 19th century interjection used to drive horses;[3] compare gee up.
Adjective
hep (comparative more hep, superlative most hep)
- (dated slang) Aware, up-to-date.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IX:
- I was pleased, as I put him hep on the Wilbert-Phyllis situation and revealed the part he was expected to play in it, to note that he showed no signs of being about to issue the presidential veto.
- (dated slang) Cool, hip, sophisticated.
- 1964 [1957], Colin MacInnes, City of Spades, London: Penguin Books, page 59:
- And I was struck to notice that though the band was only Jumble imitation of our style, it was quite a hep combination, with some feel of the beat, not like those dreadful records of the English bands I'd heard back home which never can play slow, and never can play easy to the limbs.
Verb
hep (third-person singular simple present heps, present participle hepping, simple past and past participle hepped)
- (dated, US slang) To make aware of.
- I hepped him to the situation.
Interjection
hep
- Alternative form of hup (“part of marching cadence”)
- Hep, two, three four! Hep, two, three four!
Etymology 5
From German hep or Hepp-Hepp, an interjection used to attack Jewish people. The origin of the German source is unknown, but may come from a goatherd’s call.[4]
References
- “hep, adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2018.
- Robert S. Gold (1964) A Jazz Lexicon, →OCLC
- Jonathon Green (2024) “hep adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
- “hep, n.1 and int.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2018.
See also
Albanian
Etymology
From Proto-Albanian *skapa, related to hap.[1]
Related terms
References
- Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “hep”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 145
Breton
Etymology
From Middle Breton hep, from Old Breton ep, from Proto-Brythonic *heb, from Proto-Celtic *sekʷo-, from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“follow”). Cognate to Welsh heb.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hep/
Finnish
Etymology
Perhaps originally used with horses (in the sense "giddyup"), in which case possibly a shortening of hepo; compare also hop.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhep/, [ˈhe̞p]
- Rhymes: -ep
- Syllabification(key): hep
Interjection
hep! (colloquial)
- go! (in ready, set, go)
- used as a generic interjection to express desire or surprise or to attract attention to what is said after
Further reading
- “hep”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02
Turkish
Etymology
From Ottoman Turkish هپ (hep).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hep/
Usage notes
This adverb can function as a pronoun, taking several possessive forms: hepimiz (“all of us”), hepiniz (“all of you”), and, irregularly, for the third person singular, hepsi (“all of it”). These forms may then also take case endings, just like regular pronouns.
Related terms
- hep beraber
- hep birlikte
- hepten (completely) (it has a wide spread usage- see cites-TDK - informal or dialectal)
References
- Redhouse, James W. (1890) “هپ”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 2157