Etymology
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hopscotch (n.)

children's game, 1801 (from 1789 as hop-scot), apparently from hop (v.) + scotch (n.2) "scratch," from the lines scored in the dirt to make the squares for the game.

Entries linking to hopscotch

hop (v.1)

Old English hoppian "to spring, leap; to dance; to limp," from Proto-Germanic *hupnojan (source also of Old Norse hoppa "hop, skip," Dutch huppen, German hüpfen "to hop"). Transitive sense from 1791. Related: Hopped; hopping. Hopping-john "stew of bacon with rice and peas" attested from 1838. Hopping mad is from 1670s.

scotch (n.2)

"incision, cut, score, gash," mid-15c., scoch, in cookery, related to scotch (v.). Compare Old French coche "notch on an arrow."

updated on August 19, 2015

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Dictionary entries near hopscotch

hoping

hoplite

hop-o-my-thumb

hopped

hopper

hopscotch

hop-toad

Horace

Horatian

horde

hore

© 2001-2023 Douglas Harper