heck

See also: Heck

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛk/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛk

Etymology 1

Late 19th century, originally dialectal northern English, from a euphemistic alteration of hell.

Interjection

heck

1. (euphemistic) Hell.

   What the heck are you doing?

Translations

euphemism of hell

• Bulgarian: по дяволите! (po djavolite!)
• Finnish: hitto (fi), hemmetti, helkkari (fi)
• Maori: ata, taukahore

• Norwegian: helsike
• Portuguese: diacho (pt)
• Spanish: caray (es)
• Swedish: Hälsingland (sv)

Noun

heck (uncountable)

1. (euphemistic) Hell.

   You can go to heck as far as I'm concerned.

Usage notes

Heck usually only replaces hell in idiomatic expressions or as a generic intensifier or vulgarity. It is only rarely, and for intentionally jocular effect, used an euphemism for the actual concept of hell.

Synonyms

• See under hell.

Derived terms

• oh my heck

Translations

euphemism of hell

• Danish: søren
• Finnish: hitto (fi)

• Swedish: helsike (sv)

Etymology 2

See hatch (“a half door”).

Alternative forms

• hack

Noun

heck (plural hecks)

1. The bolt or latch of a door.
2. A rack for cattle to feed at.
3. (obsolete) A door, especially one partly of latticework.
4. A latticework contrivance for catching fish.
5. (weaving) An apparatus for separating the threads of warps into sets, as they are wound upon the reel from the bobbins, in a warping machine.
6. A bend or winding of a stream.

Derived terms

• at heck and manger

Further reading

• “heck” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “heck” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• heck at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• chek

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

heck

1. singular imperative of hecken
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of hecken

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Middle English

Noun

heck

1. Alternative form of hacche