Etymograph

English

hake

Hake comes from Middle English *hake ‘hake (gadoid fish)’, from Old English hæca ‘hook, bolt, door-fastening, bar’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hakô.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hakô1‘hook’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hakō1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hæca1‘hook, bolt, door-fastening, bar’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*hake1‘hake (gadoid fish)’reconstructed
  5. Englishtodayhake1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hake

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hakôWiktionary, English hake‘hook’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hakōWiktionary, English hakereconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hæcaWiktionary, English hake‘hook, bolt, door-fastening, bar’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*hakeWiktionary, English hake‘hake (gadoid fish)’reconstructed
  5. EnglishtodayhakeWiktionary, English hake

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *keg-

hack, hatch, hock, haggle, 5 more

through Proto-Germanic *hakô ‘hook’

hook

Another origin of hake

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hake‘hake (gadoid fish)’
  2. Englishtodayhake

From Middle English hake, probably a shortened form (due to North Germanic influence) of English dialectal haked (‘pike’).

Today it means

noun A hook; a pot-hook.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hake”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hakô / hake

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