# hobbit
## English
### Etymology 1

Coined in its current sense by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s, featured in the novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Jocularly etymologized by him as from a hypothetical Old English *holbytla (literally “hole-builder”), from hol (“hole”) +‎ bytlan (“to build”) +‎ -a (“-er”). Tolkien was possibly influenced by similar terms for house-sprites (probably from Hob, a hypocoristic form of Robert), or an isolated mention of hobbits (with hobgoblins following immediately afterwards) in a list of sprites and bogies from the 19th-century Denham Tracts.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈhɒbɪt/, [-ɪʔ]
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒbɪt

#### Noun

hobbit (plural hobbits or (humorous) hobbitses)
* A member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet. [from 20th c.]
** 2008, Tom Holt, Falling Sideways, Orbit books,, →ISBN, page 3:It was his thirty-third birthday and already he had […] a little round tummy like a hobbit
    Synonym: halfling
** (humorous) A person of short stature.
* An extinct species of hominin, Homo floresiensis, with a short body and relatively small brain, fossils of which have been recovered from the Indonesian island of Flores. [from 21st c.]
** 2007 September 20, Christopher Joyce, “Case Grows for ‘Hobbit’ as Human Ancestor”, All Things Considered, National Public Radio:
    Although partial remains of other Hobbits have surfaced at the same site, they say it could have been an isolated colony of inbred people who shared the same genetic abnormalities.
** 2011, Chris Stringer, The Origin of Our Species, Penguin, published 2012, page 215:And in the island regions of southeast Asia, where the descendants of erectus, and the Hobbit, and any similar relict populations lived, climate changes would have greatly disrupted connections between regions and populations, as sea levels rose and fell by 100 metres or more.
** 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 270:The hobbit became extinct 50,000 years ago, about the time the first humans arrived on Flores, but the Pacific rat lived on.
* (US, slang, uncommon) A socially unappealing, overly academic student.

##### Derived terms

* fobbit
* hobbitic
* hobbitish
* hobbitlike
* hobbitness
* hobbitry
* hobbity

##### Translations
#### See also

* halfling

### Etymology 2

Probably from hoppet, hobbet (“basket”).

#### Noun

hobbit (plural hobbits)
* A Welsh unit of weight, equal to four Welsh pecks, or 168 pounds.
* (archaic) An old unit of volume (2+$^1$⁄$_2$ bushels, the volume of 168 pounds of wheat).

## Hungarian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈhobːit]
* Hyphenation: hob‧bit
* Rhymes: -it

### Etymology 1

hobbi +‎ -t

#### Noun

hobbit
* accusative singular of hobbi

### Etymology 2

From English hobbit; coined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

#### Noun

hobbit (plural hobbitok)
* hobbit (a member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)
    Synonym: (the name of this creature in a different translation) babó

##### Declension
## Italian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hobbit; coined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɔb.bit/
* Hyphenation: hòb‧bit

### Noun

hobbit m (invariable)
* hobbit (a member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From English hobbit; coined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

### Noun

hobbit m (definite singular hobbiten, indefinite plural hobbiter, definite plural hobbitene)
* hobbit (a member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From English hobbit; coined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

### Noun

hobbit m (definite singular hobbiten, indefinite plural hobbitar, definite plural hobbitane)
* hobbit (a member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English hobbit.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxɔb.bit/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔbbit
* Syllabification: hob‧bit

### Noun

hobbit m animal or m pers (female equivalent hobbitka, related adjective hobbicki)
* (fantasy) hobbit, halfling (member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)

#### Declension

or

### Further reading

* hobbit in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hobbit; coined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʁɔ.bi.t͡ʃi/ [ˈhɔ.bi.t͡ʃi], /ˈʁɔ.bit͡ʃ/ [ˈhɔ.bit͡ʃ]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʁɔ.bi.t͡ʃi/ [ˈhɔ.bi.t͡ʃi], /ˈʁɔ.bit͡ʃ/ [ˈhɔ.bit͡ʃ]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈʁɔ.bi.t͡ʃi/ [ˈχɔ.bi.t͡ʃi], /ˈʁɔ.bit͡ʃ/ [ˈχɔ.bit͡ʃ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈʁɔ.bit͡ʃ/ [ˈhɔ.bit͡ʃ], /ˈʁɔ.bi.t͡ʃi/ [ˈhɔ.bi.t͡ʃi]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɔ.bi.tɨ/ [ˈɔ.βi.tɨ]

### Noun

hobbit m or f by sense (plural hobbits)
* hobbit (a member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)

## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hobbit; coined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxobit/ [ˈxo.β̞it̪]
* Rhymes: -obit

### Noun

hobbit m (plural hobbits)
* hobbit (a member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet)

#### Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

#### References

* hobbit on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{es}$