hot

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning
  2. adjective characterized by violent and forceful activity or movement; very intense
  3. adjective extended meanings; especially of psychological heat; marked by intensity or vehemence especially of passion or enthusiasm

Etymology

From Middle English hot, hat, from Old English hāt (“hot”), from Proto-West Germanic *hait, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“hot; to heat”). Cognate with Scots hate, hait (“hot”), North Frisian hiet (“hot”), Saterland Frisian heet (“hot”), West Frisian hjit (“hot”), Dutch heet (“hot”), German Low German heet (“hot”), German heiß (“hot”), Danish hed (“hot”), Swedish het (“hot”), Icelandic heitur (“hot”). Related to heat. Superseded non-native Middle English chaud, from Old French chaut (“hot”); and early Modern English calent, from Latin calēns (“hot”).

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