hippic

English

WOTD – 13 December 2021

Etymology

The Zaniskari, a small mountain horse from Ladakh in northern India. Something is said to be hippic if it relates to horses or horse-riding.

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἱππικός (hippikós, “relating to horses or horse-riding”) + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’ from nouns). Ἱππικός is derived from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos (“horse; stallion”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ- (“horse; swift (?)”)) + -ῐκός (-ikós, suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’ from nouns).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɪpɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪpɪk
• Hyphenation: hipp‧ic

Adjective

hippic (comparative more hippic, superlative most hippic)

1. Relating to horses or horse-riding.

   (relating to horses): Synonyms: (more common) equine, horselike, (rare) horsely, (obsolete, rare) horsen, (the next two somewhat informal) horsey, horsy

   (relating to horse-riding): Synonym: equestrian

2. (humorous, dated) Relating to horse racing. [chiefly 19th c.]

Derived terms

• philhippic

Related terms

• hippo-

Translations

relating to horses or horse-riding — see also equine

• French: hippique (fr), équin (fr)
• Polish: hippiczny (pl)

relating to horse racing

Further reading

• horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• equestrianism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia