het

See also: hét, hèt, hết, -het, and нет

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

Etymology 1

Clipping of heterosexual.

Noun

het (countable and uncountable, plural hets)

1. (countable, slang) A heterosexual person.
   • 2020, “metal”, in food house, performed by food house:

     See how you like that you townie het from southeastern MA / Saying "fairy" and "Mark Wahlberg" like it's southie any day

2. (uncountable, fandom slang) Fan fiction involving characters in an opposite-sex romantic or sexual relationship.

   Synonym: hetfic

   • 2005, Rhiannon Bury, Cyberspaces of Their Own: Female Fandoms Online, Peter Lang, published 2005, →ISBN, page 207:

     Mary Ellen Curtin presented a paper at the 2002 Popular Culture Association conference in which she studied fanfiction archives to discover that black characters appeared far less in both het and slash fiction than white or even Latino/a characters.

   • 2006, Catherine Driscoll, “One True Pairing: The Romance of Pornography and the Pornography of Romance”, in Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse, editors, Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 84:

     The vast majority of fan fiction is het or slash, and these types are usually defined against each other as approaches to romance and porn, marginalizing gen as something outside of the dominant concerns of fan fiction.

   • 2010, Rebecca Ward Black, “Just Don't Call Them Cartoons: The New Literacy Spaces of Anime, Manga, and Fanfiction”, in Julie Coiro, Michele Knobel, Colin Lankshear, Donald J. Leu, editors, Handbook of Research on New Literacies, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, →ISBN, page 595:

     Other studies explore why some women write het, or fictions with heterosexual pairings of certain couples, within canons such as Star Trek Voyager that generally inspire slash fiction (Somogyi, 2002).

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:het.

Adjective

het (comparative more het, superlative most het)

1. (slang) Heterosexual.

Derived terms

• allocishet
• cishet
• comphet
• hetdar
• Hetlor
• hetsmut
• hetty
• non-het

Etymology 2

From Middle English hette (simple past), het (past participle), from Old English hǣtte (simple past), (ġe)hǣted (past participle), conjugations of hǣtan (“to read”); see heat (“to make hot”).

Verb

het

1. (now dialectal) simple past and past participle of heat

Adjective

het (comparative more het, superlative most het)

1. (now dialectal) Heated.

Derived terms

• het up

Etymology 3

Noun

het (uncountable)

1. (especially West Country) dialectal form of heat (“hotness”)

Etymology 4

Verb

het (third-person singular simple present hets, present participle hetting, simple past and past participle hetted or het)

1. (especially West Country) dialectal form of heat (“to make hot”)

Etymology 5

Noun

het (plural hets)

1. Clipping of heterozygous.

   For sale: Albino hognose female $20k. Hets $12.5k for pair.

Adjective

het (not comparable)

1. Clipping of heterozygous.

Etymology 6

Noun

het (plural hets)

1. Alternative form of heth (Semitic letter).

See also

• het Bildt (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• the, eth-, Eth., TEH, teh, ETH, Eth, EHT, eth, the-, Teh, -eth

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• 't (in informal writing, reflecting the contracted pronunciation)

Etymology

From the Dutch 3rd person singular of hebben, which is heeft in standard Dutch, but het in many dialects. Compare also German hat, English has (from older English hath).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦɛt/
• IPA^(key): /(ə)t/ (contracted, unstressed)

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

het

1. present of hê

Dutch

Pronunciation

• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /(ɦ)ət/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): (unstressed) /(ɦ)ət/, (when stressed) /ɦɛt/

• Audio (Netherlands):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: het
• Rhymes: -ət, -ɛt

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch dat, which was contracted to 't in usual speech. This form was later interpreted as being the same as the neuter pronoun het (etymology 2, see below), which was contracted in the same way. This then led to the modern merge with het, which some might see as being unetymological.

Article

het n

1. neuter singular of de (“the”), the definite article

   het boek ― the book

   het meisje ― the girl

Declension

Dutch definite article

	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	de	de	het	de
genitive1	des	der	des	der
dative1	den	der	den	den
accusative1	den	de	het	de
1) Archaic

Derived terms

• aan het
• hetgeen
• hetwelk
• hetzelfde

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch het, hit, from Old Dutch it, hit, from Proto-Germanic *it, *hit.

Pronoun

het n

1. it; third-person singular neuter subjective personal pronoun

   Het is een mooi huis, maar een beetje klein.

   It is a nice house, but a little small.

2. it; third-person singular neuter objective personal pronoun

   Kun je het goed zien?

   Can you see it well?

   Ik doe het als jij het wilt.

   I'll do it if you want it. (i.e. "if you want me to")

   Het katje heeft honger, geef het een boterham.

   The kitty is hungry, give it a sandwich.

3. it; impersonal pronoun

   Het is laat.

   It is late.

   Het regent alweer.

   It's raining again.

   Hoe gaat het?

   How is it going?

Usage notes

• This pronoun can combine with a preposition to form a pronominal adverb. When this occurs, it is changed into its adverbial/locative counterpart er. See also Category:Dutch pronominal adverbs.
• In a double-object construction with another pronoun, het is generally the direct object but precedes the other pronoun: Geef het hem terug! (“Give it back to him!”). Compare regional English Give it him back!. This is different from other neuter pronouns, which usually follow the indirect object: Geef hem dat terug! (“Give that back to him!”)

Declension

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner, mijns
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u, zich7	uwer, uws
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer, haars
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person gender-neutral8	hen	–	hen	–	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns
plural	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer, onzes
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u, zich7	uwer, uws
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns

¹⁾ Not as common in written language.
²⁾ Inflected as an adjective.
³⁾ In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative).
⁴⁾ In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).
⁵⁾ Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions.
⁶⁾ To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").
⁷⁾ Zich is preferred if the reflexive pronoun immediately follows the subject pronoun u, e.g. Meldt u zich aan! 'Log in!', and if the subject pronoun u is used with a verb form that is identical with the third person singular but different from the informal second person singular, e.g. U heeft zich aangemeld. 'You have logged in.' Only u can be used in an imperative if the subject pronoun is not overt, e.g. Meld u aan! 'Log in!', where u is the reflexive pronoun. Otherwise, both u and zich are equally possible, e.g. U meldt u/zich aan. 'You log in.'
⁸⁾ Not officially recognized in standard Dutch. It has gained popularity, especially in mainstream media and queer circles, as a respectful term for non-binary individuals.

Derived terms

• hetzij

Descendants

• Jersey Dutch: hät, it

Finnish

Etymology 1

he with standard nominative plural suffix -t.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhet/, [ˈhe̞t̪]
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification^(key): het
• Hyphenation^(key): het

Pronoun

het

1. (personal, dialectal, Lapland, Westrobothnia) they (plural; only of people)

Synonyms

• he (standard Finnish)
• hyö, net (dialectal)

Etymology 2

From heti through apocope.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhet/, [ˈhe̞t̪]
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification^(key): het
• Hyphenation^(key): het

Adverb

het (not comparable) (dialectal)

1. alternative form of heti (“immediately”)

Etymology 3

From Biblical Hebrew חי״ת (khet).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhe(ː)t/, [ˈhe̞(ː)t̪]
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification^(key): het
• Hyphenation^(key): het

Noun

het

1. heth (eighth letter of the Hebrew and Phoenician scripts and the Northwest Semitic abjad)

Declension

Inflection of het (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		het	hetit
genitive		hetin	hetien
partitive		hetiä	hetejä
illative		hetiin	heteihin
		singular	plural
nominative		het	hetit
accusative	nom.	het	hetit
	gen.	hetin
genitive		hetin	hetien
partitive		hetiä	hetejä
inessive		hetissä	heteissä
elative		hetistä	heteistä
illative		hetiin	heteihin
adessive		hetillä	heteillä
ablative		hetiltä	heteiltä
allative		hetille	heteille
essive		hetinä	heteinä
translative		hetiksi	heteiksi
abessive		hetittä	heteittä
instructive		—	hetein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of het (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative hetini hetini accusative nom. hetini hetini gen. hetini genitive hetini hetieni partitive hetiäni hetejäni inessive hetissäni heteissäni elative hetistäni heteistäni illative hetiini heteihini adessive hetilläni heteilläni ablative hetiltäni heteiltäni allative hetilleni heteilleni essive hetinäni heteinäni translative hetikseni heteikseni abessive hetittäni heteittäni instructive — — comitative — heteineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative hetisi hetisi accusative nom. hetisi hetisi gen. hetisi genitive hetisi hetiesi partitive hetiäsi hetejäsi inessive hetissäsi heteissäsi elative hetistäsi heteistäsi illative hetiisi heteihisi adessive hetilläsi heteilläsi ablative hetiltäsi heteiltäsi allative hetillesi heteillesi essive hetinäsi heteinäsi translative hetiksesi heteiksesi abessive hetittäsi heteittäsi instructive — — comitative — heteinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative hetimme hetimme accusative nom. hetimme hetimme gen. hetimme genitive hetimme hetiemme partitive hetiämme hetejämme inessive hetissämme heteissämme elative hetistämme heteistämme illative hetiimme heteihimme adessive hetillämme heteillämme ablative hetiltämme heteiltämme allative hetillemme heteillemme essive hetinämme heteinämme translative hetiksemme heteiksemme abessive hetittämme heteittämme instructive — — comitative — heteinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative hetinne hetinne accusative nom. hetinne hetinne gen. hetinne genitive hetinne hetienne partitive hetiänne hetejänne inessive hetissänne heteissänne elative hetistänne heteistänne illative hetiinne heteihinne adessive hetillänne heteillänne ablative hetiltänne heteiltänne allative hetillenne heteillenne essive hetinänne heteinänne translative hetiksenne heteiksenne abessive hetittänne heteittänne instructive — — comitative — heteinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative hetinsä hetinsä accusative nom. hetinsä hetinsä gen. hetinsä genitive hetinsä hetiensä partitive hetiään hetiänsä hetejään hetejänsä inessive hetissään hetissänsä heteissään heteissänsä elative hetistään hetistänsä heteistään heteistänsä illative hetiinsä heteihinsä adessive hetillään hetillänsä heteillään heteillänsä ablative hetiltään hetiltänsä heteiltään heteiltänsä allative hetilleen hetillensä heteilleen heteillensä essive hetinään hetinänsä heteinään heteinänsä translative hetikseen hetiksensä heteikseen heteiksensä abessive hetittään hetittänsä heteittään heteittänsä instructive — — comitative — heteineen heteinensä

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhe(ː)t/, [ˈhe̞(ː)t̪]
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification^(key): het
• Hyphenation^(key): het

Noun

het

1. nominative plural of he (“a letter in some Semitic alphabets”)

Kven

Etymology

From Finnish he, from Proto-Finnic *hek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhet/

Pronoun

het

1. they

Declension

Declension of het singular plural nominative hän het genitive hänen heiđän, heän partitive häntä heitä accusative hänen heiđät, heät illative hänheen heihin inessive hänessä heissä elative hänestä heistä allative hänele, hänelet, hälle, hället heile, heilet adessive hänelä, hällä heillä ablative häneltä, hältä heiltä translative hänenä heinä essive häneksi heiksi abessive hänettä heittä

Synonyms

• net

See also

Kven personal pronouns

	first	second	third anim	third anim or inan
singular	mie	sie	hän	se
plural	met	tet	het	net

References

• Eira Söderholm (2017), Kvensk grammatikk‎^[1], Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 276

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch hit, it, from Proto-Germanic *hit, *it.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /het/

Pronoun

het n

1. it

Inflection

Middle Dutch personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	genitive
singular	1st person		ic	mi		mijn
	2nd person		du	di		dijn
	3rd person	m	hi	hem, hen		sijn
		f	si	haer		haer
		n	het		hem, hen	sijn
plural	1st person		wi	ons		onse
	2nd person		gi	u		uwe
	3rd person		si	hem, hen		haer

Alternative forms

• hit
• et, it

Descendants

• Dutch: het (only the pronoun; the definite article is a weakened form of dat)
• Limburgish: hèt

Further reading

• “het”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “het”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

het

1. alternative form of heed

Etymology 2

Noun

het

1. alternative form of hete (“hate”)

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• hiitje (Mooring)
• jit (Sylt)

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *haitaną.

Verb

het

1. (Föhr-Amrum) to have as one’s name, to be called

Conjugation

Conjugation of het (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

infinitive I	het
infinitive II	(tu) {{{inf_2}}}
past participle	{{{ppp}}}
imperative singular	het
imperative plural	het’m
	present	past
1st singular	het	{{{past_1}}}
2nd singular	{{{pres_2}}}	{{{past_2}}}
3rd singular	{{{pres_3}}}	{{{past_1}}}
plural	het	{{{past_1}}}
	perfect	pluperfect
1st singular	haa {{{ppp}}}	hed {{{ppp}}}
2nd singular	heest {{{ppp}}}	hedst {{{ppp}}}
3rd singular	hee {{{ppp}}}	hed {{{ppp}}}
plural	haa {{{ppp}}}	hed {{{ppp}}}
	future (skel)	future (wel)
1st singular	skal het	wal het
2nd singular	skääl het	wääl het
3rd singular	skal het	wal het
plural	skel het	wel het

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse heitr.

Adjective

het (neuter singular hett, definite singular and plural hete, comparative hetere, indefinite superlative hetest, definite superlative heteste)

1. hot

   Alternative form: heit

   Synonym: varm

Etymology 2

Verb

het

1. simple past of hete (“to be called”)

   Alternative form: hette

References

• “het” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

het

1. past of heita

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hait, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz.

Adjective

het

1. hot

Inflection

Declension of hēt (a-stem)

strong declension
case	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	hēt	hēt	hēt	hēta, hēte
accusative	hētan, hēten	hēta	hēt	hēta, hēte
genitive	hētes	hētero	hētes	hētero
dative	hētin, hētemo	hētero	hētin, hētemo	hēton
weak declension
case	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	hēto	hēta	hēta	hēton
accusative	hēton	hēton	hēta	hēton
genitive	hētin	hēton	hētin	hētono
dative	hētin	hēton	hētin	hēton

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: hêet
  • Dutch: heet, heit (dialectal)
    • Afrikaans: heit
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: hete
    • Jersey Dutch: heît
    • Negerhollands: heet
  • Limburgish: heit

References

• “hēt (II)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /heːt/

Verb

hēt

1. first/third-person singular preterite of hātan

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hait. Compare Old English hāt, Old Frisian hēt, Old High German heiz, Old Norse heitr.

Adjective

hēt

1. hot, fierce

Declension

Positive forms of hēt

Strong declension
	singular			plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	hēt	hēt	hēt	hēte, hēta	hēta	hēt, hēta
accusative	hētan, hēten	hēta	hēt	hēta, hēte	hēta	hēt, hēta
genitive	hētes, hētas	hētara, hētaro	hētes, hētas	hētaro, hētoro, hētero	hētaro, hētoro, hētero	hētaro, hētoro, hētero
dative	hētumu, hētum, hētun, hētun, hēton, hēten, hētan	hētaro, hētaru, hētara	hētumu, hētum, hētun, hētun, hēton, hēten, hētan	hētun, hēton, hētum	hētun, hēton	hētun, hēton, hētum
Weak declension
	singular			plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	hēto, hēta	hēta, hēte	hēta, hēte	hēton, hētun	hēton, hētun, hētan	hēton, hētun
accusative	hēton, hētan	hētun, hēton, hētan	hēta, hēte	hēton, hētun	hēton, hētun, hētan	hēton, hētun
genitive	hēten, hētan	hētun, hētan, hēten	hēten, hētan	hētono, hēteno	hētono	hētono, hēteno
dative	hēton, hēten, hētan	hētun, hētan	hēton, hēten, hētan	hēton, hētun	hēton, hētun	hēton, hētun

Descendants

• Middle Low German: hêt
  • German Low German: heet
  • Low German: heet, heit, hitt

Polish

Pronunciation

• (Greater Poland):
  • (Southern Greater Poland) IPA^(key): [ˈxɛt]
• (Lesser Poland):
  • (Lasovia) IPA^(key): [ˈxɛt]
  • (Przemyśl) IPA^(key): [ˈhɛt]

• Audio:

  (file)

Particle

het

1. (Southern Greater Poland) alternative form of ot
2. (Przemyśl) alternative form of ot (“still”)

   I tak het siedziała Kasia w domu. ― And so Kasia was still sitting at home.

3. (Lasovia) alternative form of ot (“go away!”)

Further reading

• Oskar Kolberg (1877), “het”, in “Rzecz o mowie ludu wielkopolskiego”, in Zbiór wiadomości do antropologii krajowéj (in Polish), volume 1, III (Materyjały etnologiczne), page 30
• Oskar Kolberg (1865), “het”, in Lud. Jego zwyczaje, sposób życia, mowa, podania, przysłowia, obrzędy, gusła, zabawy, pieśni, muzyka i tańce. Serya II. Sandomierskie (in Polish), page 262

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /heːt/

• Audio (Gotland):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːt

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish hēter, from Old Norse heitr, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz.

Adjective

het (comparative hetare, superlative hetast)

1. hot; having a very high temperature
2. hot; feverish
3. hot; (of food) spicy
4. hot; radioactive
5. (slang) hot; physically very attractive

   Den kvinnan är het!

   That woman is hot!

6. hot; popular, in demand.

Declension

Inflection of het

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	het	hetare	hetast
neuter singular	hett	hetare	hetast
plural	heta	hetare	hetast
masculine plural2	hete	hetare	hetast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	hete	hetare	hetaste
all	heta	hetare	hetaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Synonyms

• (of high temperature): (mycket) varm
• (feverish): febrig
• (spicy): stark
• (popular): inne

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “of high temperature”): iskall, kall, kylig, sval
• (antonym(s) of “spicy”): mild
• (antonym(s) of “popular”): ute

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

het

1. imperative of heta

Anagrams

• the

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English head.

Noun

het

1. (anatomy) head
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 3:15:

     Na bai mi mekim yu i stap birua bilong meri, na meri i stap birua bilong yu. Na bai mi mekim ol lain bilong yu i birua long lain bilong meri. Bai ol i krungutim het bilong yu, na bai yu kaikaim lek bilong ol.”

     →New International Version translation

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from Old English hætt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛt/

Noun

het f (plural hetiau, not mutable)

1. hat

Derived terms

• hetiwr (“hatter, milliner”)

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “het”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English hette, from Old English hǣtu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛt/

Noun

het

1. heat

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 46