by Bill Bryson
Heian. Former name of Kyoto, Japan.
Heidegger, Martin. (1889–1976) German philosopher.
Heidelberg. German university city.
Heidsieck champagne.
heifer. Not -ff-. A young cow.
Heifetz, Jascha. (1901–1987) Russian-born American violinist.
Heilbroner, Robert L. (1920–2005) American economist.
Heineken. Dutch beer.
Heinemann, William. British publisher.
heinous. Wicked.
heir apparent, heir presumptive. The first inherits no matter what; the second inherits only if a nearer relation is not born first.
Heisenberg, Werner. (1901–1976) German physicist, formulator of the uncertainty principle; awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932.
Heisman Trophy. Annual award to outstanding U.S. college football player; named for John W. Heisman (1869–1936), director of athletics at the New York Downtown Athletics Club.
Hekmatyar. See HIKMATYAR.
Helens, Mount St. (No apos.) for the volcanic mountain in Washington State.
Hellespont. Former name of Dardanelles, the strait connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean.
Hellman, Lillian. (1905–1984) American playwright.
Hello! Magazine. Note exclamation mark.
Héloïse. (1101–1164) Lover of Pierre Abelard; but the poem of Alexander Pope is “Eloisa to Abelard.”
Helsingør. Danish name for the Danish port known in English as Elsinore; setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
hematology, hematoma, hematemesis.
hemoglobin.
hemophilia.
hemorrhage. Note -rr-.
hemorrhoids. Note -rr-.
Hendrix, Jimi. (1942–1970) Born Johnny Allen Hendrix; American rock musician.
Hennes & Mauritz. Clothing retailer.
Hennessy cognac.
Henry, O. Pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), American short story writer. The candy bar is Oh Henry!
hepatitis.
Hephaestus. Greek god of fire and metalworking; analogous to Roman god Vulcan.
Hephaesteion/Temple of Hephaestus, Athens, Greece.
Hepplewhite. Eighteenth-century style of furniture, named after English cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite (d. 1786).
Hera. Greek goddess and wife of Zeus; identified with the Roman goddess Juno.
Heracles, Hercules. The first was a Greek demigod; the second was a Roman god derived from Heracles.
herbaceous.
Herculaneum. Roman city destroyed with Pompeii in AD 79.
herculean.
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland.
hermaphrodite. Plant or animal having male and female characteristics; from the Greek god Hermaphroditus.
hermeneutics. (Sing.) The science of interpretation, especially of biblical texts.
Hermes. In Greek mythology, the messenger to the gods and guide to souls of the dead, as well as god of science, commerce, oratory, and travel; identified with the Roman god Mercury.
Hero and Leander. Tragic lovers in Greek legend; Hero drowned herself in despair after Leander perished while swimming the Hellespont to see her.
heroin, heroine. The first is a dangerous drug; the second is a female hero.
herpetology. The study of reptiles.
Herschbach, Dudley R. (1932–) American scientist, awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1986).
Herschel, Sir William. (1738–1822) German-born English astronomer, discoverer of Uranus.
Hershko, Avram. (1932–) Hungarian-born Israeli scientist, awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry (2004).
Herzog & de Meuron. Swiss architectural firm named for Jacques Herzog (1950–) and Pierre de Meuron (1950–).
Hess, Rudolf. (1894–1987) German Nazi politician.
Hesse, Hermann. (1877–1972) German writer.
heterogeneous. Made of unrelated parts.
heureusement. (Fr.) “Happily.”
heuristics. The solving of problems through trial and error; it is singular.
Hewitt, Lleyton. (1981–) Australian tennis player. Note unusual spelling of first name.
Hewlett-Packard Company. (Hyphen.)
Heyerdahl, Thor. (1914–2002) Norwegian anthropologist.
Hezbollah (or Hizbollah). Militant Lebanese Shiite Muslim group.
HI. Postal abbreviation of Hawaii. The traditional abbreviation is Ha., with period.
Hiawatha, The Song of. Epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855).
hiccup, hiccough. The first is now generally the preferred spelling.
hic et nunc. (Lat.) “Here and now.”
Hicpochee, Lake, Florida.
hierarchy, hierarchies, hierarchical.
hieroglyphics.
higgledy-piggledy.
highfalutin (no apos.) is the standard spelling, though many dictionaries also accept highfaluting, highfaluten, and hifalutin. It is still considered informal by most sources. Its origin is uncertain.
high-flier.
high jinks (two words) is the usual spelling, though some dictionaries also accept hijinks. The derivation is unknown, but it is not related to (or to be confused with) jinx as in bad luck. The word can be used as either singular or plural.
hijab. Scarf or head cover for Muslim women and, by extension, the system of modesty that goes with it.
Hikmatyar (or Hekmatyar), Gulbuddin. (1947–) Afghan warlord, leader of Hizb-e-Islami faction; prime minister of Afghanistan (1993–1994).
Hillary, Sir Edmund. (1919–2008) New Zealand explorer and mountaineer, first person to scale Everest (1953).
Himmler, Heinrich. (1900–1945) Nazi leader.
Hindenburg. Dirigible that exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937.
Hindi, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindustani. Hindi is the main language of India and Hindustani is its main dialect. Hinduism is the main religious and social system of India. Hindu describes a follower of Hinduism.
hindrance. Not -erance.
Hindu Kush. Mountain range in Afghanistan.
hippie. Not -ppy.
Hippocrates. (c. 460–377 BC) Greek physician, considered the father of medicine.
hippopotamus, pl. hippopotamuses.
hireable.
Hirschfeld, Al. (1903–2003) American caricaturist.
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. Note -hh-.
HIS, HJS. Hic iacet sepultus/sepulta, hic jacet sepulta (Lat.), “here lies buried.” Often seen on gravestones.
Hispaniola. Caribbean island on which Haiti and Dominican Republic are located.
historic, historical. Something that makes history or is part of history is historic. Something that is based on history or describes history is historical (“a historical novel”). A historic judicial ruling is one that makes history; a historical ruling is based on precedent. There are, however, at least two exceptions to the rule—in accountancy (“historic costs”) and, curiously, in grammar (“historic tenses”).
histrionics is plural.
hitchhike, hitchhiker. Note -hh-.
hitherto. “In 1962, the regime took the hitherto unthinkable step of appropriating land” (Daily Telegraph). Hitherto means “until now,” so in the example cited it is out of step with the sentence’s tense. The writer meant thitherto (“until then”), but theretofore would have been better and previously better still.
Hitler, Adolf. (1889–1945) Not Adolph. The German Nazi leader.
Hittites. Ancient people of Asia Minor.
HIV. Human immunodeficiency virus, the virus associated with AIDS. “HIV virus” is redundant.
Hizbollah. Alternative spelling of Hezbollah.
hoagie. Type of sandwich.
hoard, horde. An accumulation of valuables, often hidden, is a hoard. Horde applies to any crowd, but particularly to a thronging and disorganized one (“hordes of Christmas shoppers”).
hoary. Not -ey. Gray or aged.
Hobbema, Meindert. (1638–1709) Dutch artist.
Hobb
es, Thomas. (1588–1679) English philosopher.
hobo, pl. hoboes.
Hobson’s choice is sometimes taken to signify a dilemma or difficult decision, but in fact means having no choice at all. It is said to derive from a sixteenth-century stable-keeper in Cambridge, England, named Thomas Hobson, who hired out horses in strict rotation. The customer was allowed to take the one nearest the stable door or none at all.
Hochhuth, Rolf. (1931–) German playwright.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; formerly Saigon.
Hodder & Stoughton. British publisher.
Hodgkin disease (or Hodgkin’s disease). A cancer of the lymphatic system first described by the British physician Thomas Hodgkin.
Hoffman, Dustin. (1937–) American actor.
Hoffmann, The Tales of. 1881 opera by Jacques Offenbach. Note -ff-, -nn-.
Hoffmann-La Roche. Swiss pharmaceuticals company.
Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, Texas.
Hofstadter, Richard. (1916–1970) American historian.
Hogmanay. Scottish name for New Year’s Eve.
Hohenzollern. German royal family and a former province of Prussia.
hoi polloi means “the masses, the common populace,” and not “the elite” as is often thought. A second problem is that in Greek hoi means the, so to speak of “the hoi polloi” is redundant.
Hokkaido. Japanese island; capital Sapporo.
Hokusai, Katsushika. (1760–1849) Japanese artist and wood engraver.
Holbein, Hans, the Elder. (c. 1460–1524) German painter and father of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543), court painter to Henry VIII of England.
Holiday, Billie. (1915–1959) American singer; born Eleanora Fagan Holiday.
Holinshed, Raphael. (d. c. 1580) English historian, known for The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577), which was popularly known as Holinshed’s Chronicles.
hollandaise sauce. (Not cap.)
Holland America Line. (No hyphen.) Cruise ship company.
Holman-Hunt, William. (1827–1910) English painter.
Holmegaard. Danish crystal.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. (1809–1894) Physician, professor at Harvard, poet, essayist, and novelist, father of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1902–1932).
holocaust. In Greek the word means “burnt whole” and, generally speaking, it is better reserved for disasters involving fiery destruction. You should not, for instance, use the word to describe the devastation wrought by a hurricane or mudslide. However, a clear exception is in references to the slaughter of Jews by Germany during World War II, when it describes the entire extermination process. In such contexts, the word is capitalized.
Holyroodhouse, Palace of, Edinburgh, Scotland; pronounced holly-.
Home Counties. In British usage, the counties immediately around London.
homely. If writing for an international audience, you should be aware (or beware) that the word has strikingly different connotations between America and elsewhere. In Britain and most of its former dominions homely means comfortable and appealing, having the warm and familiar qualities associated with a home. In America, for obscure reasons, it has long signified something that is unattractive, particularly in respect to the human face. If the audience is international and confusion likely to follow, clearly a more neutral term is advised. In any case, to describe someone as homely, in the American sense, is inescapably subjective, generally uncharitable, and may cause needless hurt.
homogeneous, homogenous. Homogeneous means consistent and uniform; homogenous is almost always restricted to biological contexts, where it describes organisms having common ancestry.
homonym, homophone. Both describe words that have strong similarities of sound or spelling, but different meanings. A homophone is a word that sounds like another but has a different meaning or spelling, or both. A homonym is a word that also has a different meaning, but the same spelling or sound. Thus blue and blew are both homonyms and homophones. However, bow as in a ship and bow as in a tie are homonyms (because they are spelled the same) but not homophones (because they have different pronunciations). In short, unless the intention is to emphasize the equivalence of pronunciations, homonym is generally the better word.
Honecker, Erich. (1912–1994) Chairman of East German Communist Party (i.e., head of state) (1977–1989).
Honiara. Capital of the Solomon Islands.
Honi soit qui mal y pense. (Fr.) Usually translated as “Evil to him who evil thinks” motto of the Royal Order of the Garter in Britain.
honnête homme. (Fr.) An honest man.
honorificabilitudinitatibus. Nonsense word in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Honshu. Main island of Japan, site of Tokyo and Yokohama.
Hooch/Hoogh, Pieter de. (c. 1629–c. 1684) Dutch painter; pronounced hoke for either spelling.
Hook of Holland. In Dutch, Hoek van Holland.
Hoosick Falls, New York.
hopefully. Much ink has been expended arguing whether the word is acceptable when used in an absolute sense, as in “Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow.” Many usage authorities argue that that sentence should be recast as “It is to be hoped that the sun will shine tomorrow” or something similar. However, other authorities say that such a stand is pedantic and inconsistent, since no one objects to other -ly words, such as apparently, sadly, thankfully, and mercifully, being used absolutely. I side with the second group, but you should be aware that the use of hopefully in an absolute sense is still widely, and often hotly, objected to.
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. (1844–1889) British poet and Jesuit priest. His poetry was published posthumously.
Hopkins, Johns. (1795–1873) Not John. American financier who endowed now-famous hospital and university, both in Baltimore.
Horae. Greek goddesses who presided over the weather and seasons.
horde, hoard. The first is a swarm of people; the second, a cache.
Hornsby, Rogers. (1896–1963) Not Roger. American baseball player and manager.
Hornung, Paul. (1935–) American football player.
Horowitz, Vladimir. (1904–1989) Russian-born American concert pianist.
hors de combat. (Fr.) “Out of action.”
hors d’oeuvre. An appetizer; pl. hors d’oeuvres.
“Horst Wessel Lied.” Nazi song.
hosanna. A shout of praise.
Hosokawa, Morihiro. (1938–) Japanese prime minister (1993–1994).
hot dog (two words) for the food, but hotdog as a verb meaning to show off and for associated words such as hotdogging and hotdogger.
Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, site of Napoleon’s tomb.
hôtel de ville. (Fr.) Town hall.
Houellebecq, Michel. (1958–) French novelist.
Houston, Whitney. (1963–) American singer. (But note, it is Anjelica Huston.)
Houyhnhnms. In Gulliver’s Travels, a race of horses with the finer qualities of humans; pronounced win-ums.
Hovenweep National Monument, Utah.
hovercraft. (No cap.) The name is no longer a trademark.
Howards End. (No apos.) Novel by E. M. Forster (1910).
Howells, William Dean. (1837–1920) American critic, editor, and writer.
howitzer. A cannon.
Hoxha, Enver. (1908–1985) Head of state of Albania (1944–1985); pronounced hod'-juh.
Hrvastska. Croatian name for Croatia.
HTML. Short for Hypertext Markup Language; language used for communicating on World Wide Web.
HTTP. Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol; governing standard for World Wide Web information transfers.
Hua Guofeng. (1920–) Chinese Communist leader, premier (1976–1980); formerly Hua Kuo-feng.
Huanghe. Pinyin name for the Hwang-Ho or Yellow River, China. In most contexts a reference to one or both of the older names would be helpful.
hudibrastic, in a mock-heroic manner, from the epic satirical poem Hudibras
(1663–1678) by Samuel Butler.
Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Hudson River, but Hudson’s Bay Company.
hue and cry, not hew, for an uproar.
Huguenots. Sixteenth-to-seventeenth-century French Protestants.
Hu Jintao. (1942–) President of China (2003–).
hullabaloo.
human immunodeficiency virus. HIV, virus associated with AIDS.
humerus. Bone between the elbow and shoulder; pl. humeri.
Humperdinck, Engelbert. (1854–1921) German composer; also the stage name of a popular British singer, born Arnold Dorsey (1935–).
Humphry Clinker, The Expedition of. Not Humphrey. Novel by Tobias Smollett (1771).
humus, hummus. The first is broken-down plant material in soil; the second is a dish made from mashed chickpeas.
Humvee. Name derived from the initials HMMWV (short for high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle); general-purpose military vehicle.
Hundred Years’ War. Series of wars (1337–1453) in which France wrested back all its territory from England except Calais.
hurdy-gurdy. Musical instrument activated by a crank.
hurly-burly.
Hurston, Zora Neale. (1891–1960) American writer, associated with the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Hussein, Saddam. (1937–2006) President of Iraq (1979–2003). His name in full was Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikrit.
Huston, Anjelica. (1951–) American actress, daughter of film director John Huston (1906–1987) and granddaughter of actor Walter Huston (1884–1950).
Huxley, Aldous. (1894–1963) English novelist and brother of Sir Julian Huxley (1887–1975), biologist and writer; their grandfather was T. H. Huxley (1825–1895), scientist and champion of Charles Darwin.
Huygens, Christiaan. (1629–1695) Dutch mathematician and scientist. Note -aa- in first name.
Huysmans, Joris-Karl. (1848–1907) French novelist.
Hwang Ho. Chinese river now more commonly known as Huanghe.
hyacinth. Flower.
Hyannis Port, but West Hyannisport, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Hyderabad. Capital of Andhra Pradesh, India. There is also a city in Pakistan of the same name, which is sometimes spelled Haidarabad.
Hydra. In Greek mythology, a many-headed monster.
hydrangea.
hydrography. The study and mapping of oceans, rivers, and lakes.
hyena.
Hygeia. Greek goddess of health.