Etymograph

English

hat

Hat comes from Old English hætt, from Proto-West Germanic *hattu, from Proto-Germanic *hattuz, of unclear origin.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hattuz1‘hat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hattu2‘hat’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hætt1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hat1‘a hat or cap’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1830hat1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hat
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English hætt
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “I knew intimately all the 'Hats' in the University,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hattuzWiktionary, English hat‘hat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hattuWiktionary, Old English hætt‘hat’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hættWiktionary, English hat
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hatWiktionary, English hat‘a hat or cap’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1830hatWiktionary, English hat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “I knew intimately all the 'Hats' in the University,…”

The story

Verb sense 4 derives from a common English Wikipedia template used to collapse disruptive discussions, {{Hidden archive top}}, abbreviated as {{hat}}.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *hattuz

Today it means

noun A covering for the head, often in the approximate form of a cone, dome or cylinder closed at its top end, and sometimes having a brim and other decoration.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hat”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English hætt. 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 *hattuz / hat

Shirt and support for this word