Hyper

How to spell hyper

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hyper

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hyper mean?

1. adjectiveInformally, unusually energetic, restless, or overexcited.

Hyper in a sentence

• The children get hyper after eating too much sugar.

• Too much coffee leaves me feeling hyper and unable to focus.

Where does hyper come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is a modern, informal clipping of hyperactive, which itself was assembled from the Greek prefix hyper, meaning 'over, above, or beyond', and the Latin-derived 'active'. The Greek hyper originally described going past a limit or exceeding a measure, and it survives in many borrowed terms such as hyperbole (literally an 'over-throwing' or exaggeration) and hypertension. By the middle of the twentieth century English speakers had begun lopping off the ending of hyperactive and using 'hyper' on its own as a casual adjective for someone wound up and unable to settle. The single 'p' is worth noting, since the trap is wanting to double it; the spelling stays faithful to the Greek prefix, which has just one p.

How the word is built

• hyper- (Greek: over, above, beyond), used here as a clipped standalone adjective from hyperactive