hobby

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An activity that you enjoy doing in your free time.

   I like to collect stamps from different countries as a hobby.

Simplified etymology

Hobby developed from Hobby or Hobin, medieval pet forms of the name Robin that were also used affectionately for a pony. This produced hobby horse, first a horse figure used in performances and later a child’s stick horse; its association with play and pleasure led to hobby horse meaning a favorite pursuit, shortened to hobby by the early 19th century.

Shortened from hobby-horse, from Middle English hoby, hobyn, hobin (“small horse, pony”), from Old French hobi, *haubi, haubby, hobin ("a nag, hobby"; > Modern French aubin, Italian ubino), of Germanic origin: from Old French hober, ober (“to stir, move”), from Old Dutch hobben (“to toss, move up and down”); or from North Germanic origin related to Danish hoppe (“a mare”), Old Swedish hoppa (“a young mare”), North Frisian hoppe (“horse”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb- (“to bend; a bend, joint”). More at hop, hobble. The meaning of hobb…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary