Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
H
H
(āch)
, the eighth letter of the English alphabet, is classed among the consonants, and is formed with the mouth organs in the same position as that of the succeeding vowel. It is used with certain consonants to form digraphs representing sounds which are not found in the alphabet, as sh, th, th, as in shall, thing, thine (for zh see §274); also, to modify the sounds of some other letters, as when placed after c and p, with the former of which it represents a compound sound like that of tsh, as in charm (written also tch as in catch), with the latter, the sound of f, as in phase, phantom. In some words, mostly derived or introduced from foreign languages, h following c and g indicates that those consonants have the hard sound before e, i, and y, as in chemistry, chiromancy, chyle, Ghent, Ghibelline, etc.; in some others, ch has the sound of sh, as in chicane. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 153, 179, 181-3, 237-8.
The name (aitch) is from the French ache; its form is from the Latin, and this from the Greek H, which was used as the sign of the spiritus asper (rough breathing) before it came to represent the long vowel, Gr. η. The Greek H is from Phœnician, the ultimate origin probably being Egyptian. Etymologically H is most closely related to c; as in E. horn, L. cornu, Gr. , conceal; E. hide, L. cutis, Gr.
κέρας
; E. hele, Verb.
T.
κύτος
; E. hundred, L. centum, Gr. ἑ-κατ-ον
, Skr. c̣ata. H piece
(Mining)
, the part of a plunger pump which contains the valve.
H
(hä)
. (Mus.)
The seventh degree in the diatonic scale, being used by the Germans for B natural. See
B
. Webster 1828 Edition
H
H
, is the eighth letter of the English Alphabet. It is properly the representative of the Chaldee, Syriac and Hebrew, which is the eighth letter in those alphabets. Its form is the same as the Greek H eta. It is not strictly a vowel, nor an articulation; but the mark of a stronger breathing, than that which precedes the utterance of any other letter. It is pronounced with an expiration of breath, which, preceding a vowel, is perceptible by the ear at a considerable distance. Thus, harm and arm, hear and ear, heat and eat, are distinguished at almost any distance at which the voice can be heard. H is a letter sui generis, but as useful in forming and distinguishing words as any other.In our mother tongue, the Anglo-Saxon, and other Teutonic dialects, h sometimes represents the L. c, and the Gr.x; as in horn, L. cornu, Gr. to hide; G. haut, Sw. hud, D. huid, Dan.hud, L. cutis; Sax. hlinian, L. clino, Gr. to lean; L. celo, to conceal, Sax. helan. G. hehlen, Dan. haeler. In Latin h sometimes represents the Greek x; as in halo, Gr. hio. In the modern European languages, it represents other guttural letters.
In English, h is sometimes mute, as in honor, honest; also when united with g, as in right, fight, brought. In which, what, who, whom, and some other words in which it follows w, it is pronounced before it, hwich, hwat, &c. As a numeral in Latin, H denotes 200, and with a dash over it 200,000. As an abbreviation in Latin, H stands for homo, haeres, hora, &c.
