Hep

//hɛp// adj, intj, noun, verb, slang

adj, intj, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    hepatitis. informal, uncountable
  2. 2
    A hip of a rose; a rosehip. obsolete
  3. 3
    Abbreviation of high-energy physics. abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To make aware of. US, dated, slang

    "I hepped him to the situation."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Aware, up-to-date. dated, slang

    "I was pleased, as I put him hep on the Wilbert-Phyllis situation and revealed the part he was expected to play in it, to note that he showed no signs of being about to issue the presidential veto."

  2. 2
    Cool, hip, sophisticated. dated, slang

    "And I was struck to notice that though the band was only Jumble imitation of our style, it was quite a hep combination, with some feel of the beat, not like those dreadful records of the English bands I'd heard back home which never can play slow, and never can play easy to the limbs."

Adjective
  1. 1
    informed about the latest trends wordnet
Intj
  1. 1
    Alternative form of hup (“part of marching cadence”). alt-of, alternative

    "Hep, two, three four! Hep, two, three four!"

  2. 2
    A rallying cry in attacks on the Jewish people. historical

    "Let us hope that the modern “Hep-Hep” cry of Antisemitism of to-day will be accompanied by a similar level of Judaism."

Synonyms

All synonyms
a la modealive toappreciative ofapprised ofawake toaware

Example

More examples

"I was pleased, as I put him hep on the Wilbert-Phyllis situation and revealed the part he was expected to play in it, to note that he showed no signs of being about to issue the presidential veto."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Shortening.

Etymology 2

Alteration of hip.

Etymology 3

US slang of unknown or disputed origin, first recorded 1903. Robert Gold suggested that it is a variant of hip, from white jazz fans’ mishearing African American musicians. Jonathon Green suggests a connection to a 19th century interjection used to drive horses; compare gee up.

Etymology 4

From German hep or Hepp-Hepp, an interjection used to attack Jewish people. The origin of the German source is unknown, but may come from a goatherd’s call.

Related phrases

up to date

More for "hep"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.