Haste

How to spell haste

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce haste

What does haste mean?

1. nounExcessive speed or urgency in doing something, often leading to carelessness.

Haste in a sentence

• In her haste to catch the train, she left her phone on the kitchen table.

• The report was clearly written in haste and full of typing errors.

Where does haste come from?

Language of origin: French

Haste came into English in the 1200s from the Old French word haste, meaning 'speed' or 'urgency' (the modern French form is hâte, where the circumflex marks the lost letter s). The Old French word was itself borrowed from a Germanic source, related to forms meaning 'vehemence' or 'violence', so the early flavour of the word carried a sense of forceful rushing rather than mere quickness. Over time the meaning settled into the familiar idea of doing something with excessive speed, often with a hint that care has been sacrificed. The same root gave English the everyday relatives 'hasty' and 'hasten', and the proverb 'more haste, less speed' preserves the old worry that rushing backfires. Because the word ends in a silent e after the long vowel, writers occasionally drop it, but that final e is what keeps the vowel saying its name.

How the word is built

• haste (single root from Old French haste 'speed, urgency'); no prefix or suffix, related to the adjective 'hasty' and verb 'hasten'