Word.ws English Dictionary

heckin'

Syllables: heck·in'/ˈhɛ.kɪn/

heckin' adjective: a minced oath used as an intensifier.

Adjective

heckin' (not comparable)

  1. A minced oath used as an intensifier.
    • A heckin' kleptomaniac, he was it.2012, Murray L. Peters, Boyle-Breath Breathes, →ISBN, page 196
    • But how does a doggo, even a heckin' good doggo, warrant such honors?2017 August 16, Wayne Alan Brenner, “Dusty-Danger Dog Day in Austin”, in The Austin Chronicle
  2. A minced oath used to indicate something undesirable or annoying
    • And when in the darn heckin heck is this fix?! It's one of the most annoying bugs ms has stupidly made2003 October 1, LAM, “Can the default attachment folder be changed in OEx6”, in microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress (Usenet)
    • Is your significant other doing you a heckin distress?2017 August 9, Tasnim Odrika, “How to deal with trust issues in a relationship”, in The Daily Star

Adverb

heckin' (not comparable)

  1. A minced oath used as an intensifier.
    • All I heckin' know is that the RB has a mechanical shutter, and the RZ has a^([sic]) electronic shutter.1996 July 8, Serge Pontejos, “What does RB 67 stand for?”, in rec.photo.equipment.medium-format (Usenet)
    • I'm heckin fine :-)1999 January 22, Panther, “Shimon & Muzzer”, in alt.abuse.recovery (Usenet)

Verb

heckin'

  1. (participle, present) Horsing around.
    • When a zeed me lookin at'm ah made wise that ah was only heckin for fun but I knowed different.1969, The Anglo-Welsh Review - Volumes 18-19, page 180
    • There I was heckin' around me bedroom like a schoolgirl — one shoe on me.2003, Billy Roche, The Cavalcaders, →ISBN, page 11

Forms of heckin'

alternative formheckin
alternative formhecking

Origin of heckin'

From heck as a euphemism for hell.

Questions about heckin'

What does heckin' mean?
Heckin' means a minced oath used as an intensifier.
What part of speech is heckin'?
Heckin' can be an adjective, an adverb or a verb.
How do you pronounce heckin'?
Heckin' is pronounced /ˈhɛ.kɪn/.

Words near heckin' in the dictionary

  1. Heckford
  2. Heckfordbridge
  3. heckhound
  4. heckhounds
  5. heckin
  6. heckin'
  7. hecking
  8. Heckingham
  9. Heckington
  10. hecklable
  11. heckle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heckin' (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-NaomiAmethyst-heckin'.wav.

Cite this entry: “heckin'.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heckin%27. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.