hobbyhorse

C2+ Topic:Animals

US /ˈhɑːbiˌhɔːrs/ UK /ˈhɒbiˌhɔːs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a favourite topic one returns to insistently; a toy horse on a stick

Tax reform was his hobbyhorse at every dinner party.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a favourite topic one... obsession fixation preoccupation fad passion

Word family

Related forms hobby horse

Etymology

From hobby (originally hoby 'small horse, pony', a pet-form of the name Robin or Robert) + horse; the figurative 'pet topic' sense derives from the toy hobby-horse one rides repeatedly.

hobyn Middle English hors Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# hobbyhorse

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɑːbiˌhɔːrs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɒbiˌhɔːs/

## Meanings
1. a favourite topic one returns to insistently; a toy horse on a stick

## Examples
- Tax reform was his hobbyhorse at every dinner party.

## Synonyms
- obsession
- fixation
- preoccupation
- fad
- passion

## Related Forms
- hobby
- horse

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hobyn
- Root: hors

## Etymology
From hobby (originally hoby 'small horse, pony', a pet-form of the name Robin or Robert) + horse; the figurative 'pet topic' sense derives from the toy hobby-horse one rides repeatedly.

## AI Etymology
hobbyhorse comes from hobby (originally hoby 'small horse, pony', a pet-form of the name Robin or Robert) + horse; the figurative 'pet topic' sense derives from the toy hobby-horse one rides repeatedly. The history explains the modern form through the named earlier word or formation, without requiring a separate speculative ancestry. In present English, the noun sense is "a favourite topic one returns to insistently; a toy horse on a stick", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hobby and horse. Its semantic neighborhood includes obsession, fixation, preoccupation, and fad, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Middle English hobyn and Old English hors.

## Topics
- Animals

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