hoof

From Middle English hoof, hof, from Old English hōf, from Proto-Germanic *hōfaz (compare West Frisian hoef, Dutch hoef, German Huf, Danish hov, Norwegian hov, Swedish hov), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱoph₂ós (compare Sanskrit शफ (śaphá, “hoof, claw”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬟𐬀 (safa, “hoof”), possibly Czech, Polish kopyto).

• (US) enPR: ho͝of, ho͞of, IPA^(key): /hʊf/, /huːf/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -uːf, -ʊf

hooves of a horse.

hoof (plural hoofs or hooves)

1. The tip of a toe of an ungulate such as a horse, ox or deer, strengthened by a thick keratin covering.
2. (slang, derogatory) The human foot.

   Get your hooves off me!

   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 110:

     He is a huge man, six feet four on bare hoofs and composed of two hundred and seventy pounds of solid bone and muscle.

3. (geometry, dated) An ungula.

• hoofed

hoof (third-person singular simple present hoofs, present participle hoofing, simple past and past participle hoofed)

1. To trample with hooves.
2. (colloquial) To walk.
3. (informal) To dance, especially as a professional.
4. (colloquial, football (soccer), transitive) To kick, especially to kick a football a long way downfield with little accuracy.

   Synonym: boot

• hoove

From Dutch hoofd, Middle Dutch hovet, from Old Dutch hōvit, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą. Doublet of sjef.

• IPA^(key): /ɦʊə̯f/

• Audio

  (file)

hoof (plural hoofde)

1. head

• Hoff (Eupen)
• haof
• hoaf (Southeast Limburgish)
• Hooef (Krefeld)

From Middle Dutch hof, from Old Dutch hof, from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą.

hoof m

1. garden (an outdoor area containing one or more types of plants)