Dictionary

aitch en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• āch
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈeɪt͡ʃ/

Etymology

From Middle English ache, borrowed from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca. The source is unclear, but may descend from the vowelless alphabetic sequence ha ka 'H, K' (becoming [aka] when the [h] ceased to be pronounced), as K had low frequency in Late Latin. Doublet of ecchi.

Meanings

1. The name of the Latin script letter H/h.
   • The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch. 1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged:
   • "If you've got any drawing-room manners, or a dislike to eating peas with a knife or dropping aitches, you'd better chuck 'em away. They ain't no further use." 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 257:
   • Cockneys drop their aitches.
   • The word hour is written with a silent aitch.
   • She frowned, hearing Lim Cheng Po's voice, so English, so refined, so very English upper-class. And often she had had to tell Joe about his aitches. 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 469:

Forms

Deriveds

aitch-dropping · aitch ee double hockey sticks · aitchless · aitchbone

Descendants

エッチ · eyts · إِتْش · اِچ · اِیچ · эйч · エイチ · hec · 에이치 · เอช · έιτς · เฮช

Translations (61)

bg хаш (name of the letter H, h) · mr एच (name of the letter H, h) · fr âche (name of the letter H, h) · ko 에이치 (name of the letter H, h) · tr he (name of the letter H, h) · ang hake (name of the letter H, h) · enm uhe (name of the letter H, h) · el έιτς (name of the letter H, h) · th เฮช (name of the letter H, h) · tl atse (name of the letter H, h) · ca hac (name of the letter H, h) · pt agá (name of the letter H, h) · nl haa (name of the letter H, h) · tl eyts (name of the letter H, h) · bn এইচ (name of the letter H, h) · enm ache (name of the letter H, h) · fi hoo (name of the letter H, h) · gl hache (name of the letter H, h) · vi hắt (name of the letter H, h) · ar هَا (name of the letter H, h) · ar إِتْش (name of the letter H, h) · oc acha (name of the letter H, h) · ast hache (name of the letter H, h) · fr ache (name of the letter H, h) · uk аш (name of the letter H, h) · cmn H (éichi) (name of the letter H, h) · fa ایچ (name of the letter H, h) · vi hờ (name of the letter H, h) · es hache (name of the letter H, h) · hu há (name of the letter H, h) · cy aetsh (name of the letter H, h) · id ha (name of the letter H, h) · ga héis (name of the letter H, h) · la hā (name of the letter H, h) · it acca (name of the letter H, h) · pl ha (name of the letter H, h) · is há (name of the letter H, h) · fa هاش (name of the letter H, h) · ro haș (name of the letter H, h) · lv hā (name of the letter H, h) · ms hec (name of the letter H, h) · uk ейч (name of the letter H, h) · th เอช (name of the letter H, h) · eo ho (name of the letter H, h) · ang hah (name of the letter H, h) · ja エイチ (name of the letter H, h) · gv hibbin (name of the letter H, h) · lt ha (name of the letter H, h) · pl samo ha (name of the letter H, h) · sv hå (name of the letter H, h) · de Ha (name of the letter H, h) · ru ха (name of the letter H, h) · io he (name of the letter H, h) · uk га (name of the letter H, h) · cs há (name of the letter H, h) · ru эйч (name of the letter H, h) · tl ha (Abakada) (name of the letter H, h) · ru аш (name of the letter H, h) · hi एच (name of the letter H, h) · fo há (name of the letter H, h) · haw hē (name of the letter H, h)