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English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search Previous Words of the Week April 10, 2008 Word of the Week--"hiccup" Definition--a spasm of the diaphragm causing a sudden involuntary inhalation that is quickly cut off by another inhalation of the glottis.     Discussion--if you've never had the hiccups, the feeling is hard to describe. The word itself is imitative of the sound one makes when hiccuping. The variant spelling hiccough is due to the association with coughing. In English, hiccup has come to be used colloquially as a term describing a brief or temporary setback.  Etymology--Hiccup is a variant of earlier terms such as hicket and hyckock. It has several similar variations in other languages as shown below.    Foreign Translations German:  Schluckauf (m) Dutch:  hik (de) French:  hoquet (m) Italian:  singhiozzo Spanish:  hipo Email Jane Ellis      Previous Words of the Week

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