Meaning
A small piece of woodland or a woody hill; a copse.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
From Middle English holt, from Old English holt (“forest, wood, grove, thicket; wood, timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *holt, from Proto-Germanic *hultą (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *kald-, *klād- (“timber, log”), perhaps corresponding to a root noun *kél(h₂)d ~ *kól(h₂)d ~ *kl̥(h₂)d- (literally “chopped (wood)”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-, *kleh₂- (“to beat, hew, break, destroy, kill”). Cognate with Scots holt (“a wood, copse, thicket”), North Frisian holt (“wood, timber”), West Frisian hout (“timber, wood”), Dutch hout (“wood, timber”), German Holz (“wood”), Icelandic holt (“woodland, hillock”), Old Irish caill (“forest, wood, woodland”), Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch, shoot, twig”), Slovene kol (“stake”), Albanian shul (“door latch”). Doublet of hout. See also clade and cladus, possible doublets via Proto-Indo-European.
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 17 recorded puzzles:
- 2026-08-09HACELOT
- 2026-07-26OACHILT
- 2026-05-22OATHINL
- 2026-01-29TEOHGLY
- 2025-08-25TAOHGLU
- 2025-04-06LEOIHNT
- 2025-02-21HTIROLN
- 2024-10-31OFTHGLU
- 2024-10-12OTBLNIH
- 2024-10-09OANHELT
- 2024-09-28LEYTOHG
- 2024-07-08HAILNOT
+5 earlier appearances in the archive.