Hedge

How to spell hedge

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce hedge

What does hedge mean?

1. nounA boundary or fence formed by a row of closely growing bushes or shrubs.
2. verbTo limit risk or avoid giving a direct, fully committed answer.

Hedge in a sentence

• noun

  The gardener trimmed the tall hedge along the front path.

• verb

  The minister chose to hedge rather than confirm the new tax.

• noun

  A thick hedge separated their garden from the neighbours.

• verb

  Investors often hedge against a fall in the market.

Where does hedge come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Hedge is a thoroughly native English word, descending from the Old English hecg, which named a fence or boundary made of living bushes and shrubs. That word grew from a Germanic root that also produced the Dutch heg and the German Hecke, all describing the same kind of dense, growing barrier. Because a hedge physically encloses and protects a field, the word picked up a figurative sense by the late 1500s: to 'hedge' a bet meant to fence it in with a second wager, guarding against loss. From that came the modern financial idea of hedging, where an investor offsets one risk with another. The same image lies behind 'hedging your words', meaning to surround a statement with cautious qualifications so you are not fully committed.

How the word is built

• hedge (single root from Old English hecg, a fence of bushes); no prefix or suffix