Acording to one suggestion, from Proto-Afroasiatic*ḫab- (compare Akkadian𒀖𒀠(/upātum, ubātum/, “pregnant or fat cow”)). However, an internal origin has also been proposed, from ḫꜣb(“to be bent”) in reference to the animal’s bent tusks; compare the relation between db(“hippopotamus”) and db(“horn, tusk”).
Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective.
Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine .f/.fj, feminine .s/.sj, dual .sn/.snj, plural .sn.
