Hodl

//hɒdl̩// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To hoard a kind of cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin. neologism

    "Bitcoin price continues decline. If you're hodling, bite your government passbook."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of hodl. alt-of

    "Many people who have gotten wealthy through little-known cryptocurrencies said they didn’t plan to cash out. They said they preferred to HODL, or hold on for dear life, and keep speculating."

Example

More examples

"Bitcoin price continues decline. If you're hodling, bite your government passbook."

Etymology

Originally a mistyping of hold, appearing in a forum post on December 18, 2013. The backronym "Hold On for Dear Life" is sometimes used.

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