ho

¹ American  

[hoh] / hoʊ /

interjection

1. (used as a call to attract attention, sometimes specially used after a word denoting a destination).

   Westward ho! Land ho!

2. (used as an exclamation of surprise or delight.)

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ho ² American  

[hoh] / hoʊ /

interjection

1. (used as a command to a horse to stop.)

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ho ³ American  

[hoh] / hoʊ /

Or hoe

noun

Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.

plural

hos, hoes, ho's

1. a sexually promiscuous woman.

2. a prostitute; whore.

3. a woman.

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Ho ⁴ American  

Symbol, Chemistry.

1. holmium.

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HO ⁵ American  

[hoh] / hoʊ /

noun

1. (in police use) habitual offender.

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ho. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. house.

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H.O. ⁷ American  

abbreviation

1. Head Office; Home Office.

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HO ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. head office

2. government Home Office

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ho ² British  

/ həʊ /

interjection

1. Also: ho-ho.  an imitation or representation of the sound of a deep laugh

2. an exclamation used to attract attention, announce a destination, etc

   what ho!

   land ho!

   westward ho!

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Ho ³ British  

symbol

1. holmium

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ho ⁴ British  

/ həʊ /

noun

1. slang:Black a derogatory term for a woman

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ho. ⁵ British  

abbreviation

1. house

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Usage

What does ho mean? Not to be confused with hoe (the gardening tool), a ho is an offensive term for a sex worker or a promiscuous woman. Some people use the term to insult women in general while some women have reclaimed the term.What are other forms of ho?hoe

Etymology

Origin of ho¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; a natural exclamation

Origin of ho²

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English ho, who, from Old French ho, and Old Norse hō; whoa

Origin of ho³

First recorded in 1965–70; dialectal or African American Vernacular English pronunciation of whore

Example Sentences

The last time the groups diverged came six years ago when PGA winner “1917” lost the Oscar to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” a film that surged in momentum in the weeks leading up to the 2020 Oscars.

From Los Angeles Times

“Ho there, boy, where are you going?”

From Literature

Ho, a former journalist, became a hero to the democracy movement for her hours of live reporting on large, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in 2019.

From Barron's

Ho criticised the trial as taking place in a "comical", "1984-esque reality".

From Barron's

William Blair analyst Jonathan Ho upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform, citing the boost in traffic that Fastly’s cloud platform is getting from large-language models and AI agents.

From Barron's