hit

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun (baseball) a successful stroke in an athletic contest (especially in baseball)
  2. noun the act of contacting one thing with another
  3. noun a conspicuous success

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hitten (“to hit, strike, make contact with”), from Old English hittan (“to meet with, come upon, fall in with”), from Old Norse hitta (“to strike, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to fall; fall upon; hit; cut; hew”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian hitte (“to meet”), Dutch hitten (“to hit, encounter”), Danish hitte (“to find”), Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish hitta (“to meet”), Norwegian Nynorsk hitta, hitte (“to meet; to find”), Latin caedō (“to kill”), Albanian qit (“to hit, throw, pull out, release”). Probably also related to Dutch hei (“mallet”), German Heie (“wooden hammer, mallet”).

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