ho

Meanings

Interjection

• Used to attract attention to something sighted, usually by lookouts.
• halloo; hey; a call to excite attention, or to give notice of approach

Noun

• A stop; a halt; a moderation of pace.
• A whore; a sexually promiscuous woman; in general use as a highly offensive name-calling word for a woman with connotations of loose sexuality.
• Care, anxiety, trouble, sorrow.

Verb

• To care, be anxious, long.

Origin

• From Middle English ho, hoo, probably from Old Norse hó!. Compare German ho, Old French ho !.
• Pronunciation spelling of whore in a non-rhotic accent with the dough-door merger, which is found in some varieties of African American Vernacular English. Compare mo#Etymology 5, fo'.
• From Middle English howe, houwe, hoȝe, from Old English hogu and hoga, from Proto-Germanic *hugô, *hugiz, *huguz, akin to Old High German hugu, hugi (Middle High German hüge), Old Saxon hugi (Middle Dutch höghe, Dutch heug ), Old Norse hugr, Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐍃.
• From Middle English howen, hoȝen, hogien, from Old English hogian, hugian, from Proto-Germanic *hugjaną. Cognate with Middle Scots huik, Old High German hucken, Old Saxon huggjan, Dutch heugen, Old Norse hyggja, Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽.