Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

hurdle

UK/ˈhɜːdl̩/US/ˈhɝd(ə)l/
nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,442 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: hurdles

A hurdle is one of the small fences runners leap over on the track. Clear the hurdle, the four hundred metre hurdles, fall at the last hurdle.

A track hurdle is designed to tip over if struck, so that a runner who clips one is not brought down. Figuratively a hurdle is any obstacle to get past, and to fall at the last hurdle is to fail with the finish in sight.

Ragnar Singsaas · CC BY 2.0

Definitions of hurdle

  1. 1nounhurdleOne of the small fences runners leap over on the track.B1+

    “She leapt over each hurdle cleanly and crossed the finish line first.”

hurdle is a barrier.

Also accepted in games: hurdles

Where it comes from

Old English hyrdel meant a frame of woven twigs used as a temporary fence, a diminutive of an older word for a hurdle or wattle.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kreh₂-

  2. Proto-Germanic

    *hurdiz

  3. Old English

    hyrdel — frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier

  4. Middle English

    hurdel

  5. English, today

    hurdle

From Middle English hurdel, hirdel, herdel, hyrdel, from Old English hyrdel (“frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier”), diminutive of hyrd, from Proto-Germanic hurdiz, from Pre-Germanic kr̥h₂tis, from Proto-Indo-European kreh₂-. Cognate with Dutch horde, German Hürde.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sports & Fitness

Practise this word

hurdle in the wild

  • In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion.

    Hurdling

  • Today, the dominant step patterns are the 3-step for high hurdles, 7-step for low hurdles, and 15-step for intermediate hurdles.

    Hurdling

  • The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older.

    Champion Hurdle

  • The most prestigious hurdling event in the British calendar, its list of winners features many of the most highly acclaimed hurdlers in the sport's history.

    Champion Hurdle

  • Hurdle races always have a minimum of eight hurdles and a minimum distance of two miles (3.2 km).

    Hurdling (horse race)

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the hyrdel family

hurdlehurdles

hurdle — used about once every 4,601 pages · #9,442 · point at the bar for the others