Hood (noun) refers to a covering for the head, such as a garment’s attached hood or a hooded cloak. In everyday English, it also denotes a neighborhood (slang) or, in context, the part of a house over the entrance. It’s a short, monosyllabic word with a rounded vowel and a final consonant, often used in casual speech and compound terms.
"The hoodie kept me warm on the chilly morning walk."
"Snow slid off the hood of the car after I brushed it off."
"The city’s northern hood is known for its vibrant street art."
"She pulled her hood up to shield her face from the rain."
Hood comes from Old English hodde, related to the Proto-Germanic hudan- meaning the covering for the head. The term evolved in Middle English to refer to a garment worn for warmth or protection, often attached to a cloak or coat. Its semantic scope narrowed over time in modern usage to describe a garment’s hood, and colloquially to refer to a neighborhood (as in “the hood”). The word shares roots with other Germanic terms for head coverings and garments and has cognates in Dutch hod and German Hood, reflecting a common Germanic heritage. The earliest known written uses appear in Old English texts, where hodde described head coverings worn in medieval society. Over the centuries, “hood” became a general term for head coverings worn for protection from weather, and later as part of compound expressions (e.g., hoodie, hoodlum) that extend its cultural usage beyond just the garment. In contemporary English, hood also surfaces in metaphorical uses (e.g., “under the hood” in technology contexts), reflecting its long-standing association with concealment and protection.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Hood" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Hood" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Hood"
-ood sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Pronounce it as /hʊd/. Start with an initial [h] breathy sound, then a short, lax rounded back vowel like the word “foot” without the second syllable, and finish with a clear [d]. The mouth stays relatively closed, with the tongue high and back, and the lips rounded slightly before the final [d]. In careful speech you’ll hear a crisp final stop. Audio references: consult Cambridge/Oxford dictionaries for the IPA and slow, clear enunciation examples.
Two common mistakes are misplacing the tongue too far forward, producing a fronted vowel like /ɪ/ as in “hid,” and leaving the final [d] weak or devoiced in rapid speech. Corrective tips: keep the tongue high and back in a short, rounded /ʊ/ vowel; release the final [d] with a small burst immediately after the vowel; practice with phrases like “the hood of the car” ensuring a crisp stop after the vowel. Also avoid adding an extra syllable in casual speech; it remains a brief one-syllable word.
All three accents share /h/ onset and /d/ coda, but vowel quality shifts: US/UK/AU all use /ʊ/ here, but quality varies subtly; US often has a more lax, central-aligned /ʊ/, UK tends toward a slightly longer, tenser /ʊ/, and AU mirrors US but with less vowel length distinction in some rapid phrases. Rhoticity doesn’t affect this word since there’s no r. In connected speech, US can reduce to a shorter, faster /hʊd/, UK may maintain a slightly more rounded vowel; AU tends to be closer to General Australian vowel timing.
The difficulty lies in producing a concise /ʊ/ vowel in a closed syllable and delivering a clean final /d/ in rapid speech. The tongue must rise toward the palate without creating a schwa; the lips form a subtle rounding before the vowel, and then the exact, crisp release of /d/ requires precise timing—no voicing bleed. People often substitute /u/ or merge with /ɒ/ in non-native speech. Focus on short, tight vowel articulation and a strong, quick [d] release blocking vowel shortening.
A distinctive, word-specific nuance is the near-absence of any vowel length or stress signal in Hood; it is a single, fast syllable with primary focus on the tight, rounded /ʊ/. There’s no stress variance within the word since it’s monosyllabic; the tone can be slightly higher on a question or emphasis in contrastive focus. Ensure your jaw remains relaxed to avoid a tense /ɜː/ substitute, and maintain a compact tongue position for the /ʊ/ vowel.
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