What does "hof" mean?

An enclosure, court, dwelling, building, or house.

What is a synonym for "hof"?

Common synonyms include: garth, higher-order function.

//hoʊf// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
An enclosure, court, dwelling, building, or house.
"Ulrike lived in a farm hof, and all around me were the dark blank fields punctuated by a few disparate lights."
2
A temple, sanctuary, or hall. Germanic
"For each ten churches burned to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged."
3
A Korean-style bar or pub.
"To the south are Korean spas, Korean barbecue joints and hofs, or Korean pubs."
4
Initialism of hall of fame. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
5
Initialism of hall of fame. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

Show 2 more definitions

Proper Noun

1
An independent town in the Upper Franconia region, Bavaria, Germany.
2
Initialism of Hero of Ferelden; the player character in Dragon Age: Origins. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
"In 9:31 Dragon the HoF slew the Archdemon."
3
A rural district of the Upper Franconia region, Bavaria, Germany, surrounding but not including the town of Hof, which nevertheless serves as its administrative seat.

"Ulrike lived in a farm hof, and all around me were the dark blank fields punctuated by a few disparate lights."

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Hof. Doublet of howff.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Norse hof or Old English hof, reinforced in modern (post-1990, chiefly neopagan) use by Icelandic hof (“shrine, temple”).

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Korean 호프 (hopeu), in turn from German Hofbräuhaus. In English, the spelling has been re-aligned with the Korean term's etymon.

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