Word.ws English Dictionary

hedgehog

/ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/US/ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɔɡ/

hedgehog noun: a small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked, native to Afro-Eurasia. Also the ellipsis of Czech hedgehog.

hedgehog: a small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the...
Image: Michael Gäbler, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

hedgehog (plural hedgehogs)

  1. A small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked, native to Afro-Eurasia.
    • [L]ike Hedg-hogs vvhich / Lye tumbling in my bare-foote vvay, and mount / Their pricks at my foot-fall: ſometime am I / All vvound vvith Adders, vvho vvith clouen tongues / Doe hiſſe me into madneſſe: […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    • Among the Romans the genital organ of the hedgehog and the wolf were among the ingredients used in aphrodisiac concoctions.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 152
    Synonyms:
    urchin, furze-pig, fuzz-pig, hedgepig, hedgy-boar, prickly-pig, Erinaceus europaeus
  2. (US) Any of several spiny mammals, such as the porcupine, that are similar to the hedgehog.
  3. (historical, informal) A spigot mortar-type of depth charge weapon from World War II that simultaneously fires a number of explosives into the water to create a pattern of underwater explosions intended to attack submerged submarines.
  4. (Australia) A type of chocolate cake (or slice), somewhat similar to an American brownie.
    • There are hedgehogs with sultanas as well as breadcrumbs, carrot cakes and fruitcakes and banana walnut loaves.2005, Paul Mitchell, The Favourite, Frank Moorhouse, The Best Australian Stories 2005, page 145
    • I am so flustered that I order a vanilla slice instead of hedgehog.2008, Lili Wilkinson, The Not Quite Perfect Boyfriend, unnumbered page
  5. A form of dredging machine.
    • The first machines merely loosened, but did not raise the stuff, a scouring being afterwards effected by means of sluices. These machines consisted of large bars or prongs placed vertically in a frame, and being fastened to a barge placed in the line of the sluices, the whole was inpelled forward...1868, “Dredging”, in Charles Tomlinson, editor, Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering, volume 1, page 520
  6. Medicago intertexta, the pods of which are armed with short spines.
    Synonyms:
    Calvary clover, Calvary medick, hedgehog medick
  7. Retzia capensis of South Africa.
  8. The edible fungus Hydnum repandum.
    • Hedgehogs fruit from autumn until late spring. Many consumers are still unfamiliar with hedgehogs, and they have a relatively small commercial trade.1998, Randy Molina, David Pilz, Managing Forest Ecosystems to Conserve Fungus Diversity and Sustain Wild Mushroom Harvests
  9. A kind of electrical transformer with open magnetic circuit, the ends of the iron wire core being turned outward and presenting a bristling appearance.
  10. A way of serving food at a party, consisting of a half melon or potato etc. with individual cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple stuck into it.
  11. (differential geometry) A type of plane curve; see Hedgehog (geometry).
  12. Someone who has one big overarching personal philosophy or worldview.
    • Austin was patiently and painstakingly concerned with truth within limitations. He was a hedgehog, not a fox.1970, The Month
    • Dewey was a hedgehog rather than a fox; he spent his life trying to articulate and restate a single vision, and in the writings of his third decade he already exhibits the tension I have claimed to find in the later writings.1992, J. E. Tiles, Jim E. Tiles, John Dewey, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 220
    Antonyms:
    fox

Verb

hedgehog (third-person singular simple present hedgehogs, present participle hedgehogging, simple past and past participle hedgehogged)

  1. To make use of a hedgehog barricade as a defensive maneuver.
    • Hedgehogging means — let us call a spade a spade — that we're were encircled: It's something that has been forced upon us, a predicament from which we ought to try to escape as fast as possible.1966, Theodor Plievier, Stalingrad, page 43
    • Luettwitz hedgehogged his regiment and held his positions until the rest of the division arrived two days later.2012, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Gene Mueller, Hitler's Commanders, →ISBN
  2. To array with spiky projections like the quills of a hedgehog.
    • All around were styrofoam cups hedgehogged with butts, and the threebar electric heater was encrusted with bits of charcoaled tobacco and frazzled stands of hair where people had stooped down to spark up.2008, Antonia Quirke, Choking on Marlon Brando, →ISBN
    • The walls were pockmarked with fragments of stone and hedgehogged with jagged daggers of glass, while in the street below there were sickening splodges on the pavement which a workman was covering with sawdust.2008, Max Hennessy, Back to Battle, →ISBN, page 300
  3. (ambitransitive) To curl up into a defensive ball.
    • You try for his head, but he's hedgehogged round now, elbows beside his ears and you can't get him.2008, A.L. Kennedy, Day, →ISBN, page 229
    • I stayed hedgehogged in my ball, listening for movement and trying to ignore the cramp in my legs, the ache in my gut and — encore — the throbbing in my temples.2011, Edwin Thomas, The Blighted Cliffs, →ISBN, page 13

Also used as

hedgehog is also the ellipsis of Czech hedgehog.

hedgehog meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

hedgehog in Hindi

animal
साही sāhī

hedgehog in Tamil

ஹெட்ஜ்ஹோக்

hedgehog in Marathi

हेजहोग, हेज हॉग, हेजहॉग

hedgehog in Urdu

animal
خارِ پُشْت xār-i puśt, خارْپُشْت xārpuśt, ساہی sāhī
More languagesFewer languages
hedgehog in Bengali
কাঁটাচুয়া kãṭacuẏa
hedgehog in Telugu
హెడ్జ్హాగ్
hedgehog in Malayalam
ഹെഡ്ജ്ഹോഗ്
hedgehog in Kannada
ಹೆಡ್ಜ್ಹಾಗ್
hedgehog in Punjabi
ਕੰਡਿਆਲ਼ਾ kaṇḍiāḷā, ਕੰਡੇਰਨਾ kaṇḍernā, ਝਾਹਾ jhāhā
hedgehog in Gujarati
હેજહોગ, હેજ હોગ
hedgehog in Odia
ହେଜ୍ ହଗ୍
hedgehog in Pashto
جږګی jiǵgay
hedgehog in Tagalog
eriso
hedgehog in Arabic
قُنْفُذ qunfuḏ
hedgehog in Malay
landak
hedgehog in Indonesian
landak
hedgehog in Thai
เม่น mên
hedgehog in Vietnamese
nhím
hedgehog in Myanmar
ဖြူ hpru, ဖြူကောင် hprukaung

Examples of hedgehog in a sentence

  • His wife had made a hedgehog cake and he offered some but Murphy refused – his mouth was so dry with terror he couldn′t swallow.2009, Adam Shand, The Skull: Informers, Hit Men and Australia's Toughest Cop, page 199:
  • Such a machine, called a hedgehog, is still used in Lincolnshire.1868, “Dredging”, in Charles Tomlinson, editor, Cyclopædia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering...
  • During the night of May 27 the 90th Light Division hedgehogged south of El Adem.2007, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps, →ISBN:

All 29 example sentences with hedgehog

Synonyms of hedgehog

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of hedgehog

Forms of hedgehog

Noun
pluralhedgehogs
Verb
third-person singular presenthedgehogs
present participlehedgehogging
past participlehedgehogged
pasthedgehogged

Plural of hedgehog: hedgehogs

Origin of hedgehog

From Middle English heyghoge; equivalent to hedge + hog. Eclipsed non-native Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog”), from Old French hirchoun, herichon (“hedgehog”); and displaced earlier Middle English il, from Old English īl, iġil (“hedgehog”). In the philosophical sense, from the 1953 essay The Hedgehog and the Fox by Isaiah Berlin. Compare typologically Korean 고슴도치 (goseumdochi) (<<+ Middle Korean 돝 (twoth, “pig, swine”)).

Words formed from hedgehog

Phrases with hedgehog

Questions about hedgehog

What does hedgehog mean?
Hedgehog means a small mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, characterized by their spiny back and often by the habit of rolling up into a ball when attacked, native to Afro-Eurasia.
What is hedgehog in Hindi?
Hedgehog in Hindi is साही (sāhī). See Hedgehog meaning in Hindi.
How do you use hedgehog in a sentence?
His wife had made a hedgehog cake and he offered some but Murphy refused – his mouth was so dry with terror he couldn′t swallow.
What part of speech is hedgehog?
Hedgehog can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce hedgehog?
Hedgehog is pronounced /ˈhɛd͡ʒ.hɒɡ/.
What is the plural of hedgehog?
The plural of hedgehog is hedgehogs.

Words near hedgehog in the dictionary

  1. hedged around
  2. hedged in
  3. hedged one's bets
  4. hedgeful
  5. hedgefuls
  6. hedgehog
  7. hedgehog cacti
  8. hedgehog cactus
  9. hedgehog highway
  10. hedgehog highways
  11. hedgehog plant

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hedgehog (page history and authors); hedgehog (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hedgehog (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hedgehog (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hedgehog (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hedgehog (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hedgehog (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hedgehog (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: EN-AU ck1 hedgehog.ogg.

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