hoarse

C2+ Topic:Health & Medicine

US /hɔɹs/ UK /hɔːs/ See IPA manual

Homophones

Freq #26321

Meanings

1

adj
rough and harsh in voice or sound

After shouting all night, his voice was hoarse.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · rough and harsh in voice or... raspy huskycroakyrough

More gruff

Opposites

clear-voiced

Word family

Derived forms hoarserhoarsesthoarselyhoarseness

Related forms voice

Etymology

From Middle English hors, hos, from Old English hās ("hoarse"), from Proto-Germanic *haisaz, with cognates in other Germanic languages.

hors Old English hās Old English *haisaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

External links

# hoarse

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /hɔɹs/
**IPA (UK):** /hɔːs/
**Frequency rank:** 26321

## Meanings
1. rough and harsh in voice or sound

## Examples
- After shouting all night, his voice was hoarse.

## Synonyms
- raspy
- husky
- croaky
- rough
- gruff

## Antonyms
- clear-voiced

## Derived Forms
- hoarser
- hoarsest
- hoarsely
- hoarseness

## Related Forms
- voice

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hors
- Root: hās
- Root: *haisaz

## Etymology
From Middle English hors, hos, from Old English hās ("hoarse"), from Proto-Germanic *haisaz, with cognates in other Germanic languages.

## AI Etymology
Hoarse comes from Middle English hors or hos, from Old English hās, meaning rough or harsh in voice. The modern adjective still describes a voice made raspy by illness, shouting, age, or emotion. Its history is mainly inheritance within Germanic rather than a metaphorical innovation. Related forms such as hoarsely and hoarseness preserve the same vocal core. The requested form is a headword because hoarse is not merely an inflection of another common seed word.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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