# havoc
## English
### Alternative forms

* havok, havock, hauocke (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”), of obscure origin. Probably from a derivative of Old French *haf, hef (“hook”), from Frankish *haf, *habbjā, *happjā (“pruning-hook, scythe”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), related to Old French havee (“handful”), Old French havet (“pruning-hook”), Old High German habba, heppa (“pruning-hook, scythe”), modern German Hippe (“billhook”). If so, then also related to English heave and doublet of hatchet.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈhævək/
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈhævək/, /ˈhævɪk/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈhævək/, /ˈhævɪk/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)
* Widespread devastation and destruction.
** 1688, John Bunyan, Good News for the Vilest of Men, or, A Help for Despairing Souls. […], London: […] George Larkin, […], →OCLC, page 59:I [Paul the Apostle] vvas going to Damaſcus vvith Letters from the High Prieſt to make Havock of God's People there, as I had made Havock of them in other places. Theſe bloody Letters vvas not impoſed upon me. I vvent to the High Prieſt and deſired them of him, Acts 9. 1, 2. And yet he [God] ſaved me!
** 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:Ye Gods, what Havock does Ambition make / Among your Works!
** 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The People that Time Forgot‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.
* Mayhem.

#### Usage notes

The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.

#### Derived terms

* play havoc, play merry havoc with, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

#### Translations
### Verb

havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)
* To pillage.
** 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
* To cause havoc.

#### Usage notes

As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, the gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

#### Translations
### Interjection

havoc
* A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
** c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!

### References

* ↑ Old Hungarian Goulash?, The Grammarphobia Blog, October 31, 2008