hep

See also: hẹp and нер

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛp/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛp

Etymology 1

Shortening.

Noun

hep (uncountable)

1. (informal) hepatitis.
2. Abbreviation of high-energy physics.

Usage notes

• Mainly used in the names of varieties of hepatitis, such as hep A, hep B, hep C, hep D, and hep E.

Etymology 2

Alteration of hip.

Noun

hep (plural heps)

1. (obsolete) A hip of a rose; a rosehip.

Etymology 3

US slang of unknown or disputed origin, first recorded 1903. Robert Gold suggested that it is a variant of hip, from white jazz fans’ mishearing African American musicians,. Jonathon Green suggests a connection to a 19th century interjection used to drive horses; compare gee up.

Adjective

hep (comparative more hep, superlative most hep)

1. (dated slang) Aware, up-to-date.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IX:

     I was pleased, as I put him hep on the Wilbert-Phyllis situation and revealed the part he was expected to play in it, to note that he showed no signs of being about to issue the presidential veto.

2. (dated slang) Cool, hip, sophisticated.
   • 1964 [1957], Colin MacInnes, City of Spades, London: Penguin Books, page 59:

     And I was struck to notice that though the band was only Jumble imitation of our style, it was quite a hep combination, with some feel of the beat, not like those dreadful records of the English bands I'd heard back home which never can play slow, and never can play easy to the limbs.

Derived terms

• hepcat
• hepster
• hip

Verb

hep (third-person singular simple present heps, present participle hepping, simple past and past participle hepped)

1. (dated, US slang) To make aware of.

   I hepped him to the situation.

Etymology 4

From German hep or Hepp-Hepp, an interjection used to attack Jewish people. The origin of the German source is unknown, but may come from a goatherd’s call.

Interjection

hep

1. (historical) A rallying cry in attacks on the Jewish people.

Noun

hep (uncountable)

1. (usually reduplicated) An instance of crying hep!, especially as a call to attack Jewish people.
   • 1893, Emanuel Schreiber, Historians of Judaism in the Nineteenth Century‎^[1], page 13:

     Let us hope that the modern “Hep-Hep” cry of Antisemitism of to-day will be accompanied by a similar level of Judaism.

Anagrams

• Eph, Eph., HPE, PHE, peh

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Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *skapa, related to hap.

Noun

hep f (indefinite plural hepa, definite singular hepi, definite plural hepat)

1. furrow, scratch

Related terms

• hap

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Breton

Etymology

From Middle Breton hep, from Old Breton ep, from Proto-Brythonic *heb, from Proto-Celtic *sekʷo-, from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“follow”). Cognate to Welsh heb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hep/

Preposition

hep

1. without

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Finnish

Etymology

Perhaps originally used with horses (in the sense "giddyup"), in which case possibly a shortening of hepo; compare also hop.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhep/, [ˈhe̞p]
• Rhymes: -ep
• Syllabification^(key): hep

Interjection

hep!

1. (colloquial) go! (in ready, set, go)
2. (colloquial) used as a generic interjection to express desire or surprise or to attract attention to what is said after

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Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish هپ‎ (hep).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hep/

Adverb

hep

1. altogether
2. always

Usage notes

This adverb can function as a pronoun, taking several possessive forms: hepimiz (“all of us”), hepiniz (“all of you”), and, irregularly, for the third person singular, hepsi (“all of it”). These forms may then also take case endings, just like regular pronouns.

Related terms

• hep beraber
• hep birlikte

References

• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “هپ”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 2157