hodl
/hɒdl̩/
hodl verb: to hoard a kind of cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin.
Verb (1)
hodl (third-person singular simple present hodls, present participle hodling, simple past and past participle hodled)
- To hoard a kind of cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin.
- Bitcoin price continues decline. If you're hodling, bite your government passbook.2016 July 22, Venzen Khaosan, “Bitcoin Price Decline 100% Confirmed”, in Cryptocoins News
- I believe that the individuals who have the fortitude and insight to be hodling onto their coins deserve to be rewarded for their risk. It is also my hope that I am hodling more coins if/when the price skyrockets.2017 April 22, “Bitcoin Is Not Immune to All Fiat Problems”, in The Merkle
Verb (2) capitalized: HODL
HODL (third-person singular simple present HODLs, present participle HODLing, simple past and past participle HODLed)
- Alternative letter-case form of hodl.
- Many people who have gotten wealthy through little-known cryptocurrencies said they didn’t plan to cash out. They said they preferred to HODL, or hold on for dear life, and keep speculating.2022 February 7, David Yaffe-Bellany, “They Made Millions on Luna, Solana and Polygon: Crypto’s Boom Beyond Bitcoin”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2022
- Bitcoin, in particular, has always bounced back from previous dips, and investors who HODLed (held on for dear life to their coins, despite falling prices) have ended up with huge capital gains.2022 May 17, Paul Krugman, “Crashing Crypto: Is This Time Different?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 21 May 2022
Examples of hodl in a sentence
- Cryptocurrency veterans love to “hodl,” aka store their virtual loot as a long-term investment.2017 November 10, Leigh Cuen, “Cyber Monday Guide: How To Buy Christmas Presents With Bitcoin”, in International Business Times:
- But even those with the stomach for hodling must avoid an even bigger issue — hacking.2021 April 25, Erin Griffith, “We’re All Crypto People Now”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Forms of hodl
| third-person singular present | hodls |
|---|---|
| present participle | hodling |
| past participle | hodled |
| past | hodled |
| alternative form | HODL |
| third-person singular present | HODLs |
| present participle | HODLing |
| past participle | HODLed |
| past | HODLed |
Origin of hodl
Originally a mistyping of hold, appearing in a forum post on December 18, 2013. The backronym "Hold On for Dear Life" is sometimes used.
Words formed from hodl
Words that rhyme with hodl
Questions about hodl
- What does hodl mean?
- Hodl means to hoard a kind of cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin.
- How do you use hodl in a sentence?
- Cryptocurrency veterans love to “hodl,” aka store their virtual loot as a long-term investment.
- What part of speech is hodl?
- Hodl is a verb.
- How do you pronounce hodl?
- Hodl is pronounced /hɒdl̩/.
- What is the past tense of hodl?
- The past tense of hodl is hodled.
Words near hodl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hodl (page history and authors); HODL (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)-Vealhurl-hodl.wav.
Cite this entry: “hodl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hodl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.