hint

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /hɪnt/ See IPA manual

Freq #5672

Meanings

1

noun
An indirect suggestion that helps someone guess what you mean.

He gave me a hint that my breath smelt.
2

noun
A piece of information that helps you solve a problem or do something.

I needed a hint to finish the crossword.
3

noun
A very small amount of something that you can only just notice.

There was a hint of irony in his voice.
4

verb
To suggest something indirectly without saying it openly.

She hinted at the possibility of a recount of the votes.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an indirect suggestion that... allusion insinuation

2 noun · a piece of information that... tip indication

3 noun · a very small amount of... dash bit

4 verb · to suggest something... intimate suggest

Word family

Forms hintedhintinghints

Derived forms hintablehintedhinterhintinglyhintline

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

broad hint
an indirect suggestion that is nevertheless easy to understand

Adjective + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

drop a hint
suggest something indirectly instead of saying it openly

Etymology

From Middle English hinten, hynten, variant of henten (“to lay hold of, catch”), from Old English hentan (“to seize, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *hantijan, from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną. Doublet of hent. Related also to hunt.

hinten Middle English hentan Old English *hantijan Proto-West Germanic *hantijaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# hint

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /hɪnt/
**Frequency rank:** 5672

## Meanings
1. An indirect suggestion that helps someone guess what you mean.
2. A piece of information that helps you solve a problem or do something.
3. A very small amount of something that you can only just notice.
4. To suggest something indirectly without saying it openly.

## Examples
- He gave me a hint that my breath smelt.
- I needed a hint to finish the crossword.
- There was a hint of irony in his voice.
- She hinted at the possibility of a recount of the votes.

## Derived Forms
- hintable
- hinted
- hinter
- hintingly
- hintline

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hinten
- Root: hentan
- Root: *hantijan
- Root: *hantijaną

## Etymology
From Middle English hinten, hynten, variant of henten (“to lay hold of, catch”), from Old English hentan (“to seize, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *hantijan, from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną. Doublet of hent. Related also to hunt.

## AI Etymology
Hint comes from Middle English hinten, hynten, variant of henten (“to lay hold of, catch”), from Old English hentan (“to seize, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *hantijan, from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną. Doublet of hent. Related also to hunt. In current use, the main senses are “An indirect suggestion that helps someone guess what you mean” and “A piece of information that helps you solve a problem or do something”.

## Topics
- People & Society

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