hit

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To bring your hand or an object forcefully against something.

   He hit the ball as hard as he could.

2. 2
   noun

   The act of forcefully striking one thing against another.

   The boxer took a hard hit to the jaw.

3. 3
   noun

   Something very popular and successful, such as a song or film.

   That song was my first hit and started my career as a singer.

4. 4
   noun

   A single visit by a user to a web page.

   Yesterday our website got over 500 hits.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Hit is an Old English word whose earliest recorded sense was “to come upon, meet with, or find.” Its noun use for a popular success began with successful plays and later songs around the beginning of the 19th century.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-der. Proto-Indo-European *kh₂id-néh₂-ti Proto-Germanic *hittijaną Old Norse hittader. Old English hyttan Middle English hitten English hit Inherited from Middle English hitten (“to hit, strike, make contact with”), from Old English hittan (“to meet with, come upon, fall in with”), from Old Norse hitta (“to strike, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to fall; fall upon; hit; cut; hew”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian hitte (“to meet”), Dutch hitten (“to hit, encounter”), Danish hitte (“…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary