hébe-hóba

Hungarian

Etymology

hé (Old Hungarian variant of hő (“heat”)) +‎ -be (“in”, folksy variant of -ben) +‎ hó (“snow”) +‎ -ba (“in”, folksy variant of -ban). Its original meaning was “in heat and in snow”, that is “always”. Later, the meaning of its parts had faded because of its similarity to reduplications such as gizgaz (“weed”) and mendemonda (“hearsay”); this may be how its current meaning changed to “sometimes”.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [ˈheːbɛhoːbɒ]
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: hé‧be-‧hó‧ba
  • Rhymes: -bɒ

Adverb

hébe-hóba

  1. (idiomatic) every now and then, every once in a while, sometimes (very seldom)
    Synonyms: egyszer-kétszer, elvétve, időnként, hellyel-közzel, nagy ritkán, néha, olykor-olykor

References
  1. hébe-hóba in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)

Further reading
  • hébe-hóba in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
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