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• hood
  hood

  noun

  a soft or flexible covering for the head and neck, either separate or attached to a cloak, coat, or the like.
• 'hood
  'hood

  noun

  a neighborhood, especially an urban neighborhood inhabited predominantly by African Americans of low socioeconomic status.
• Hood
  Hood

  noun

  John Bell, 1831–79, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
• -hood
  -hood

  a native English suffix denoting state, condition, character, nature, etc., or a body of persons of a particular character or class, formerly used in the formation of nouns: childhood; likelihood; knighthood; priesthood .

hood

¹ American  

[hood] / hʊd /

noun

1. a soft or flexible covering for the head and neck, either separate or attached to a cloak, coat, or the like.

2. something resembling or suggesting such a covering, especially in shape, as certain petals or sepals.

3. the hinged, movable part of an automobile body covering the engine.

4. British. the roof of a carriage.

5. a metal cover or canopy for a stove, ventilator, etc.

6. Falconry. a cover for the entire head of a hawk, used when the bird is not in pursuit of game.

7. an ornamental ruffle or fold on the back of the shoulders of an academic gown, jurist's robe, etc.

8. a crest or band of color on the head of certain birds and animals.

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verb (used with object)

• hoods,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hooded,
  past participle,  past
• hooding
  present participle

1. to furnish with a hood.

2. to cover with or as if with a hood.

hood ² American  

[hood, hood] / hʊd, hud /

noun

Slang.

1. a hoodlum.

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'hood ³ American  

[hood] / hʊd /

Or hood

noun

Slang.

1. a neighborhood, especially an urban neighborhood inhabited predominantly by African Americans of low socioeconomic status.

   It’s hard for these kids to break the cycle of poverty and get out of the 'hood.

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Hood ⁴ American  

[hood] / hʊd /

noun

1. John Bell, 1831–79, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.

2. Raymond Mathewson 1881–1934, U.S. architect.

3. Robin. Robin Hood.

4. Thomas, 1799–1845, English poet and humorist.

5. Mount, a volcanic peak in N Oregon, in the Cascade Range. 11,253 feet (3,430 meters).

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-hood ⁵ American  

1. a native English suffix denoting state, condition, character, nature, etc., or a body of persons of a particular character or class, formerly used in the formation of nouns: childhood; likelihood; knighthood; priesthood .

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hood ¹ British  

/ hʊd /

noun

1. a loose head covering either attached to a cloak or coat or made as a separate garment

2. something resembling this in shape or use

3. the US and Canadian name for bonnet

4. the folding roof of a convertible car

5. a hoodlike garment worn over an academic gown, indicating its wearer's degree and university

6. falconry a close-fitting cover, placed over the head and eyes of a falcon to keep it quiet when not hunting

7. biology a structure or marking, such as the fold of skin on the head of a cobra, that covers or appears to cover the head or some similar part

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verb

1. (tr) to cover or provide with or as if with a hood

Hood ² British  

/ hʊd /

noun

1. See Robin Hood

2. Samuel, 1st Viscount. 1724–1816, British admiral. He fought successfully against the French during the American Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars

3. Thomas. 1799–1845, British poet and humorist: his work includes protest poetry, such as The Song of the Shirt (1843) and The Bridge of Sighs (1844)

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-hood ³ British  

suffix

1. indicating state or condition of being

   manhood

   adulthood

2. indicating a body of persons

   knighthood

   priesthood

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'hood ⁴ British  

/ hʊd /

noun

1. slang short for neighbourhood

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hood ⁵ British  

/ hʊd /

noun

1. slang short for hoodlum

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Usage

What does -hood mean? The suffix -hood is used to indicate “a state of being” or "a group of a particular characteristic or class." It is often used in a variety of technical and everyday terms. The form -hood comes from Old English hād, meaning “condition” or “rank.” Similar suffixes in Latin include -itās and -tūdō, both of which indicate a state of being and are the sources of the English suffixes -ity and -tude. Check out our entries for both suffixes to learn how frequently they appear.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hoodless
  adjective
• hoodlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• hooding
  present
• hooded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hood
  simple
• hoods
  simple
• have hooded
  perfect
• has hooded
  perfect
• am hooding
  progressive
• are hooding
  progressive
• is hooding
  progressive
• have been hooding
  perfect progressive
• has been hooding
  perfect progressive

Past

• hooded
  simple
• had hooded
  perfect
• was hooding
  progressive
• were hooding
  progressive
• had been hooding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hood
  simple
• will have hooded
  perfect
• will be hooding
  progressive
• will have been hooding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hood¹

First recorded before 900, in 1925–30 hood ¹ for def. 3 (an Americanism); Middle English hode, Old English hōd; cognate with Old Frisian hōde, Dutch hoed, German Hut hat

Origin of hood²

First recorded in 1925–30; by shortening

Origin of 'hood³

First recorded in 1965–70; African American Vernacular English; by shortening

Origin of -hood⁵

Middle English -hode, -hod, Old English -hād (cognate with German -heit ), special use of hād condition, state, order, quality, rank

Explanation

A hood is a protective covering. It could be a car hood protecting the engine or your car or it could be the hood on your coat protecting your noggin. Your favorite sweatshirt might have a hood, as well as your fur-lined winter coat and your insulated hood for scuba diving. Other things with a similar protective quality are also called hoods, like the metal vent cover over your stove, the cover on your car's engine, and the cap-like plant sections that cover vulnerable parts. One of the most famous hoods in literature is the red one worn by the main character in "Little Red Riding Hood."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hood 'hood Hood -hood hoods hooded hooding

The movie ends with Ricky Bobby speeding in a car without sponsors, a massive “ME” splashed on the hood.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Photos released by the sheriff’s department show a dark, late-model sedan with a crushed hood and a damaged front bumper.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

"It's one thing to look at chemistry and a set of materials at the single cell level in a fume hood," said Bailey.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Yet recent signs point to another shift taking place under the hood of the stock market.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026

Then he went indoors and worked at making himself a winter cape, with hood.

From "Abel's Island" by William Steig

"But we make black music first and foremost, and all our records is 'hood first'."

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2025

Through fantastical moments of magical realism nestled into perfect encapsulations of ’hood life, viewers got a story of two fools trying to figure out their place in the world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2024

“I’m not even in the ghetto. I’m not in the ‘hood.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 27, 2023

"They Cloned Tyrone," directed and co-written by Juel Taylor, is a futuristic 'hood mystery based around a white and white-adjacent corporate agenda to control the Black community through fried chicken, drugs and perms.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2023

When rap was born, the early rap stars were not rapping about gangsta life, but “My Adidas” and good times in the ’hood in tunes like “Rapper’s Delight.”

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

The U.S. military has grounded its Apache helicopters after two soldiers were killed near Fort Hood, Texas.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Petrie-Morris announced that Fairground’s first products would riff on beloved public domain characters—Robin Hood, etc.—and then hopefully earn access to established IP through studio partnerships.

From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2026

They have access to the mission’s dining, recreation and health facilities but are not required to participate in religious activities, President and Chief Executive Mark Hood said in an interview.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

July 1991: The two men first met after Gates’s mother asked her son to meet a group of friends at the Gates’s vacation home on Hood Canal in Washington.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Then we had movies like Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society, and they made the hood look cool.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

When joined together, the h- of the -hood is put in immediate apposition with the s of the monks-.

From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham

I stuck to slapping the hoods and windows of so many cars that my hand turned black with soot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

Small tips, like the cut of hoods, or the excess arm space runners need in order to move, showed students how intricate even the simplest of pieces needed to be.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

Chief Executive Mary Barra’s first job as a co-op student was inspecting Pontiac hoods and fenders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

Mr Clothier explains: "The methanogenic bacteria are gobbling up all the solids and generating loads of lovely methane, which we then catch in the hoods over the top."

From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2025

In between lanes, kids now play tag, weaving in and out of the landlocked cars, while their parents play cards on the hoods.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim sang Alessandro with a hooded quality and too much vibrato; he sounded messy, especially in the big register jumps of his agitated Act 2 aria.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

We open in a post-apocalyptic Pasadena, following a hooded character through a dark landscape of burned out cars and mutant distractions to Stuart’s somehow still-open comic book store.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

But merging in along the route were sections of masked, hooded invidividuals, many dressed all in in black.

From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026

His shift didn't finish until three in the morning and he's ensconced in a hooded down jacket to keep out the winter weather.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

But Harry was afraid: The hooded Death Eater had shouted “It’s the real one!”; how had he known?

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

“I never thought I would get plastic surgery,” said Caruso, who opted in after noticing that her eyeliner no longer showed up on her eyes due to hooding.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026

Zhang, an award-winning author of “How Much of These Hills Is Gold” and “Land of Milk and Honey,” was scheduled to speak at the May 8 education school doctoral hooding ceremony.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2024

She attended a Baptist pastor’s hooding ceremony, a public event for a Japanese sister city, and a luau held by a local nonprofit’s C.E.O.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2019

Horrified Sir John told the inquiry he had not been aware of the ruling by former Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1972 outlawing hooding.

From BBC ● May 18, 2010

Gollum blinked, hooding the malice of his eyes with their heavy pale lids.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Related Words

• gangster
• goon
• hooligan
• punk
• tough
• tough guy