Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • A termination denoting state, condition, quality, character, totality, as in manhood, childhood, knighthood, brotherhood. Sometimes it is written, chiefly in obsolete words, in the form -head.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • suffix A condition or state of being the thing or being in the role denoted by the word it is suffixed to, usually a noun.
  • suffix A group sharing a specified condition or state.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English -hād, from Proto-Germanic *haiduz, via Middle English -hode (compare -head). Cognate with German -heit, Dutch -heid, Swedish -het, Norwegian -het/-heit, Danish -hed. The Swedish, Norwegian and Danish endings are borrowed from West Germanic.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word -hood.

Examples

  • The only other new CBS comedy, being paired with The Big Bang Theory on Thursday, is yet another self-conscious look at "real man"-hood a theme prevalent in several new ABC sitcoms this fall.

    Critic's Notebook: The CBS Upfront 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.