hiccup
Syllables: hic·cup/ˈhɪkʌp/
hiccup noun: a spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound.
Noun
hiccup (plural hiccups)
- A spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound.
- There was a loud hiccup from the back of the room and the class erupted in laughter.
- A case of the hiccups; the condition of having the spasms of hiccupping; singultus; diaphragmatic myoclonus.
- Any spasm or sudden change.
- Albert didn't notice the switch, the subliminal flash and hiccup in time as the man he had been talking to only seconds before was catapulted backwards half an hour.2010, Oli Smith, Nuclear Time, page 197
- A minor obstacle or setback.
- There's been a slight hiccup in the processing of this quarter's results.
- Synonyms:
- hang-up
Verb
hiccup (third-person singular simple present hiccups, present participle hiccuping or hiccupping, simple past and past participle hiccuped or hiccupped)
- To produce a hiccup; have the hiccups.
- To say with a hiccup.
- "I haven't touched a drop, officer," the suspect hiccupped.
- To produce an abortive sound like a hiccup.
- The car engine hiccupped but wouldn't start.
hiccup meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hiccup in Hindi
- spasm of the diaphragm
- हिचकी hickī
hiccup in Tamil
- spasm of the diaphragm
- விக்கல் vikkal
hiccup in Marathi
- spasm of the diaphragm
- उचकी uckī
hiccup in Urdu
- a hiccup
- ہچکی hickī
- hiccup
- ہیک hīk
- to hiccup
- ہچکنا hicaknā
More languagesFewer languages
- hiccup in Bengali
- হেঁচকা hẽcka, হেঁচকি hẽcki
- hiccup in Telugu
- ఎక్కిళ్ళు ekkiḷḷu
- hiccup in Malayalam
- ഇക്കിൾ ikkiḷ, എക്കിൾ ekkiḷ
- hiccup in Kannada
- ಬಿಕ್ಕಳಿಕೆ, ಎಕ್ಕುಡು, ಎಕ್ಕಡು, ಎಕಡು
- hiccup in Gujarati
- હીક hīk
- hiccup in Sanskrit
- हिक्का hikkā
- hiccup in Assamese
- হেঁকটি hẽkoti, হিঁকটি hĩkoti
- hiccup in Tagalog
- sinok, sigok, siyok
- hiccup in Arabic
- حَازُوقَة ḥāzūqa, فُوَاق fuwāq, فَوَاقَ fawāqa
- hiccup in Malay
- tersedu-sedu
- hiccup in Indonesian
- cegukan
- hiccup in Persian
- سکسکه sekseke, هکه hokke, هکک hekkak, سکسکه کردن sekseke kardan
- hiccup in Thai
- สะอึก sà-ʉ̀k
- hiccup in Vietnamese
- cái nấc, nấc cụt, nấc
- hiccup in Myanmar
- ကြို့ထိုးခြင်း krui.htui:hkrang:
- Kashmiri
- ہیُٛک hyuk
- Dzongkha
- ཧིག་ཀུ hig ku
Examples of hiccup in a sentence
- There were several loud hiccups from the back of the room, and the class erupted in laughter.
- He has the hiccups – give him a glass of water.
- The diaphragmatic spasm of his hiccup caused his epiglottis to painfully stopper his windpipe with a loud "hic".
Synonyms of hiccup
Forms of hiccup
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hiccups |
| alternative form (dated) | hiccough |
| alternative form (archaic) | hickup |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hiccups |
| present participle | hiccuping |
| present participle | hiccupping |
| past participle | hiccuped |
| past | hiccuped |
| past participle | hiccupped |
| past | hiccupped |
Origin of hiccup
From earlier hickop, alteration of earlier hicket, hyckock, from hic (onomatopoeic) + -ock (diminutive suffix). Akin to Scots hick, hix (“hiccup”), West Frisian hik (“hiccup”), Dutch hik (“hiccup”), Middle Low German hükup, huckup, hueckup (modern Low German hick (“hiccup”)), German hicksen (“to hiccup”, verb), Alemannic German Hidsgi (“hiccup”), Danish hikke (“hiccup”), Swedish hicka (“hiccup”), hicka (“to hiccup”, verb), Icelandic hiksti (“hiccup”). Displaced yex, from Middle English yexen, ȝisken, ȝixen, ȝoxen (“to hiccup”), from Old English ġiscian, ġeocsian (“to hiccup”).
Words formed from hiccup
Words that rhyme with hiccup
Questions about hiccup
- What does hiccup mean?
- Hiccup means a spasm of the diaphragm, or the resulting sound.
- What is hiccup in Hindi?
- Hiccup in Hindi is हिचकी (hickī). See Hiccup meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hiccup?
- Hiccup can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hiccup?
- Hiccup is pronounced /ˈhɪkʌp/.
- What is the plural of hiccup?
- The plural of hiccup is hiccups.
Words near hiccup in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hiccup (page history and authors); ہچکنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); hiccup (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); હીક (Gujarati) (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: En-UK-Hiccough.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hiccup.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hiccup. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.