Hack

How to spell hack

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce hack

What does hack mean?

1. verbTo cut or chop something roughly with heavy, repeated blows.
2. verbTo gain unauthorised access to a computer system or data.
3. nounA clever shortcut or improvised technique that makes a task easier.
4. nounA writer or journalist who produces dull, unoriginal work for money.

Hack in a sentence

• verb

  The explorers had to hack through the dense jungle with machetes.

• verb

  Criminals tried to hack into the bank's customer database overnight.

• noun

  A simple kitchen hack for peeling garlic quickly saved her time.

• noun

  The critic dismissed the novelist as a lazy hack chasing easy money.

• verb

  He used an axe to hack the fallen branch into firewood.

• verb

  A teenager managed to hack the company server and steal passwords.

Where does hack come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English verb haccian, meaning 'to cut into pieces' or 'to chop roughly', which is related to similar verbs across the Germanic languages such as Dutch hakken and German hacken, both meaning 'to chop'. The core idea was always a rough, repeated cutting or striking action rather than a clean slice, and that physical sense survives in phrases like hacking through undergrowth or a hacking cough. From this practical root the word branched out in surprising directions: a horse kept for ordinary hire (originally a Hackney horse, from the London district) gave us the sense of a tired drudge, and from there the 'hack writer' churning out dull work for money. In the twentieth century the verb was adopted by computer enthusiasts, first for clever, playful tinkering and later for breaking into systems, and most recently for any quick, ingenious shortcut, the modern 'life hack'. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable and simple, with the final hard -ck ending that English uses to close a short stressed vowel.

How the word is built

• hack (single root, from Old English haccian: to cut into pieces)