Hate — definition, etymology, and first known use
Publishes and qualifies the Indo-European proposal.
Noun etymology and semantic-transparency note- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
PERMANENT DISPUTE RECORD
ALL DISPUTES ↗One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.
Only as a qualified proposal. Formal correspondence is published, but grief, pain, care, mourning, pursuit, and hatred do not form one transparent semantic sequence.
[ˈhasn̩] · German weak verb
The modern German weak verb for feeling hatred toward a person or for strongly disliking a thing or action. Duden traces it through Middle High German haʒʒen and Old High German haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn and adds that the older verb also meant pursue. Grimm’s DWB makes the semantic contrast explicit: it calls hostile pursuit or persecution the original sense and then describes a later, more muted center in hostile disposition rather than hostile deeds. BMZ and Lexer independently document the Middle High German verb and its literary record. The reviewed ancestry follows the reconstructed Germanic weak-verb alternatives into the *hatiz- family, preserves the qualified *ḱh₂d-es- / *ḱeh₂d- proposal, and then stops.
DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE
A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.
Publishes and qualifies the Indo-European proposal.
Noun etymology and semantic-transparency noteQuestions the semantic unity and membership of the wider family.
Discussion of proposed cognates and pursuitThe reviewed evidence does not yet warrant collapsing the competing or incomplete analyses into one secure answer.