Where does “hobby” come from?
Hobby derives from Middle English hoby, from Latin harpe, from Ancient Greek ἅρπη, from Old Dutch hobben.
hobby (English): An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare...
Definitions
- An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare...
Ancestry of “hobby”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | hobby-horse | Alternative spelling of hobby horse |
| 2 | Middle English | hoby | — |
| 3 | Albanian | hobe | catapult, sling |
| 4 | Middle Low German | hōpen | to hope |
| 5 | Old Saxon | hopon | — |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | hopōn | to hope, to expect |
Words derived from “hobby”