havoc

English

Alternative forms

• havock (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæv.ək/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology

From Middle English havok, from Anglo-Norman havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).

Noun

havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)

1. widespread devastation, destruction
   • Bible, Acts viii. 3

     As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.

   • Addison

     Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The People that Time Forgot^[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

     But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.

2. mayhem

Usage notes

The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.

Derived terms

• play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

Translations

devastation

• Bulgarian: опустошение (bg) n (opustošenie)
• Dutch: verwoesting (nl) f
• Finnish: hävitys (fi), tuho (fi), vahinko (fi)
• German: Zerstörung (de) f
• Hindi: नाश (hi) (nāś)
• Irish: eirleach m

• Italian: rovina (it) f, distruzione (it) f, strage (it) f
• Maori: aneatanga
• Polish: spustoszenie
• Portuguese: destruição (pt) f, devastação (pt) f, ruína (pt) f
• Russian: опустоше́ние (ru) n (opustošénije), разруше́ние (ru) n (razrušénije)
• Spanish: estrago (es) m

mayhem

• Bulgarian: безпорядък (bg) m (bezporjadǎk)
• Finnish: kaaos (fi), sekasorto (fi)

• Maori: aneatanga
• Russian: беспоря́док (ru) m (besporjádok), ха́ос (ru) m (xáos), хао́с (ru) m (xaós)

Verb

havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)

1. To pillage.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:

     To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

2. To cause havoc.

Translations

To cause havoc

• Bulgarian: опустошавам (bg) (opustošavam)

Usage notes

As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, The gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

Interjection

havoc

1. A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
   • Toone

     Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.

   • Shakespeare

     Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!