huckepack

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Low German Huckeback, as in enen up’n Huckeback nömen (literally “to take someone on one’s piggyback”). The first component is cognate with German Hucke (“load, burden”) or a related verb hucken (“to carry a load”). The second component is from Middle Low German bak (“back”) by the consensus of the etymological standard literature. The component -back was associated with Pack (“pack, package”) when the word spread southward, since Back was exclusively a Low German word (gradually going out of use even there).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈhʊkəˌpak/
  • Audio(file)

Adverb

huckepack

  1. carried on someone’s back (particularly another person); piggyback
    Sie trägt ihren kleinen Bruder huckepack.
    She’s carrying her little brother piggyback.

Further reading
  • “huckepack” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “huckepack” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
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