Hacker

How to spell hacker

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hacker

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hacker mean?

1. nounA person who gains unauthorised access to computer systems or networks, or a skilled programmer who enjoys exploring them.
2. nounA clumsy or unskilled person at an activity, especially a poor golfer.

Hacker in a sentence

• A hacker exploited the weak password to steal customer records.

• As a weekend golfer he cheerfully called himself a hacker.

• The bank hired a former hacker to test its own security.

• The course was crowded with every hacker who owned a set of clubs.

Where does hacker come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base verb 'hack' comes from Old English 'haccian', meaning 'to cut into pieces' or 'to chop roughly', a word with close cousins across the old Germanic languages. For centuries a hacker was simply someone who hacked, chopping wood or hewing through undergrowth. In the mid twentieth century the word took on a fresh life at American technical institutions, where 'hack' described an inventive, clever piece of work and a 'hacker' was an enthusiast who tinkered playfully with machines and code. From the 1980s onward the popular meaning narrowed toward someone who breaks into computer systems, often without permission. The spelling is straightforward: the agent suffix '-er' is simply added to 'hack', and the single 'c' followed by 'k' keeps the short vowel sound.

How the word is built

• hack (to cut roughly, later to break into computers)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)