In all languages, there are certain words that may sound similar but have entirely different meanings. These words are categorized under ‘homophones.’ Even in the English language, there are many homophones. Hight and Height are two very prominent examples of homophonic words with very different meanings, spelling, and usage.
Hight vs Height
The main difference between Hight and Height is that Hight refers to calling or naming someone, whereas height is regarded as the vertical distance from a base level. The words might appear a lot similar to the listener but, as we just explained, are pretty different from each other.
Hight originated in the 15th century and is generally regarded to have taken from Middle English. It refers to calling someone or commanding a person to arrive, which means being called upon. It is not a very popularly used word now but was once a very famous one.
Height is such a commonly used word that many of us might be using it in our everyday lives. The term ‘Height’ is used to indicate the vertical upward distance from a base level or point. It is a noun and is said to have originated back in the 12th century or maybe even before.
Comparison Table Between Hight and Height
| Parameters of Comparison | Hight | Height |
| Meaning | Hight refers to calling someone or being named. | Height refers to the distance from the base level. |
| Origin | It is known to be used in the 15th century for the first time. | It is known to be used before the 12th century for the first time. |
| Grammar | Hight is a verb. | Height is a noun. |
| Alternative term | Often ‘ highte’ is used as an alternate term for hight. | Heighth or High are generally used in place of Height. |
| Example | The king hight the soldiers for a meeting. | The ball dropped from a great height. |
What is Hight?
Whenever we want to call a person to us, the most preferred way is to call out their name. But in the time which we now refer to as the Middle English era, this was a less popular way. The most common term that people used to call someone or a group of people was using the word ‘hight’. The word is known to have originated in the 15th century, which is quite a lot time back.
Some texts also regard that the word ‘Hight’ has come from the Old English word ‘hātan’, which is very similar to the Old High German word ‘heizzan’, which means to command or call. Its past participle is ‘hoten’, which also has its origins in Old English. Many a time, people use an alternative of this word which is ‘Highte’. With time, as the English language grew to become more and more advanced and at the same time started to spread all over the world, many older words became less and less prominent. This was due to a frequent revision and replacements of words which was also a result of widespread use of the Language.
Use of the word hight can be found in the beautiful piece of literature The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein – “ Twenty-four hours earlier a stranger hight Schultz sat down at my table.”
What is Height?
Height refers to the vertical distance from a base level or point. It is so widely used in so many aspects that it will be unbelievable if someone won’t have heard of it. For referring to how tall someone is, we use the word ‘height’. To tell how up a building or a tree goes, the use of the term ‘height’ is preferred. Even in studies, and most significantly in mathematics as well as science, the use of height is quite a prominent one.
It is said to have originated even before the 12th century. It is a noun and is widely used because of which many misspellings like ‘heighth’ have also become popular. ‘High’ is usually regarded as a term that can be used in place of height. But this is not the case for all time. For example, while referring to how tall someone is, we will have to use the word height. Since using ‘high’ will result in a sentence – ‘What is your high?’ which makes absolutely no sense at all.
Height is regarded as the unit of measurement too. In the case where one has to measure three-dimensional figures, one of the dimensions is referred to as height.
Main Differences Between Hight and Height
- Hight refers to calling someone out or commanding them to come, while Height refers to the vertical distance from a horizontal base.
- Hight is a form of the verb, while Height is a noun.
- Hight was originated in the 15th century and is known to have taken from Middle English. Height was originated even before the 12th century and is known to be taken from the Old language.
- An alternate term of hight could be highte, and that of height could be high. But these alternative terms need to be used carefully since they can’t always replace the main words.
- Example of hight ; King Arthur gave an astonished hight to the front men. Example of height: It is easy to calculate the height of this tower using the Pythagoras Theorem.
Conclusion
When we dig deep into a language and try to understand it in a more comprehensive way, grammar plays a vital role. Hight and Height are homophones that bring them under the category of – ‘sound the same but aren’t the same. There are a lot more examples to understand homophones in a broader sense.
Over here, hight is a word extracted from middle English, which means to command or call out someone. It has lost popularity over time. On the other hand, height refers to a measurement that is usually taken from a ground level and extends vertically upwards. It was extracted from Old English in the early or even before the 12th century.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705814032214
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924271697830006