Heck

See also: heck

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛk/
• Rhymes: -ɛk

Etymology 1

Proper noun

Heck

1. A hardy breed of domestic cattle, the result of an attempt to breed back the extinct aurochs from modern aurochs-derived cattle in the 1920s and 1930s.

Etymology 2

English, Dutch and south German surname, all from words meaning "hedge," "enclosure," "fence," from *haggju. Compare Van Heck, Hatch.

Proper noun

Heck

1. A surname, possibly from German.

Etymology 3

Proper noun

Heck

1. A civil parish of Selby district, North Yorkshire, England, with the villages of Great Heck and Little Heck.
2. A hamlet in Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NY0980).

Derived terms

• Great Heck

Anagrams

• chek

German

Etymology

From Middle Low German heck (“wooden fencing”), from Old Saxon *hekki, from Proto-West Germanic *hakkju. The sense “back of a ship” because the position of the helmsman in the stern was enclosed by such a fence. Cognate to Dutch hek, English hatch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛk/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Heck n (strong, genitive Hecks or Heckes, plural Hecks or (less common) Hecke)

1. stern (of a ship)
2. tail (of an aeroplane)
3. back (of a car)

Usage notes

• The more common plural is Hecks.

Declension

Declension of Heck [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Heck	die	Hecks, Hecke2
genitive	eines	des	Hecks, Heckes	der	Hecks, Hecke2
dative	einem	dem	Heck, Hecke1	den	Hecks, Hecken2
accusative	ein	das	Heck	die	Hecks, Hecke2

¹Now rare, see notes.
²Less common.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “stern, tail”): Bug m (“bow”)
• (antonym(s) of “back of car”): Front f (“front”)

Related terms

• Bootsheck
• Fließheck
• Heckbremse
• Heckfenster
• Heckklappe
• Heckleuchte
• Hecklicht
• Heckmotor
• Heckpropeller
• Heckrotor
• Heckscheibe
• Heckschraube
• Schiffsheck
• Schrägheck
• Steilheck
• Stufenheck

See also

• Backbord (ship)
• Steuerbord (ship)

Proper noun

Heck m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Hecks or (with an article) Heck, feminine genitive Heck, plural Hecks)

1. a surname

Declension

Declension of Heck [masculine // feminine, surname]

	singular						plural
	masculine			feminine
	indef.	def.	noun	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	(ein)	(der)	Heck	(eine)	(die)	Heck	(die)	Hecks
genitive	(eines)	(des)	Hecks, Heck1	(einer)	(der)	Heck	(der)	Hecks
dative	(einem)	(dem)	Heck	(einer)	(der)	Heck	(den)	Hecks
accusative	(einen)	(den)	Heck	(eine)	(die)	Heck	(die)	Hecks

¹With an article.

Further reading

• “Heck” in Duden online
• “Heck” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Heck” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Heck” in OpenThesaurus.de
• Heck on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German hegge, from Old High German heggia, from Proto-West Germanic *haggju. Cognate with German Hecke, Dutch heg, English hedge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hæk/

Noun

Heck f (plural Hecken)

1. bush, hedge

Synonyms

• Ho