Word Confusion: Hoard versus Horde

Posted June 17, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
6 July 2023

I guess it was the influence of all those pirate movies I watched, and the books I read as a kid, ’cause when authors confuse this one, well, it always cracks me up! I mean, it just doesn’t work when . . .

The thundering hoards came racing up!

OR

I hid my horde under the floorboard.

It’s gotta be a Xanthian influence for the first — homophones unite! As for the second, dang, that is one humongous house!

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Hoard Horde

Brown Wooden Jewelry Box is in the public domain, via Peakpx.

Someone’s hoard tucked into a jewelry box.

A Horde of People Standing Vigil by Suhandri Lariwu is under the CC0 license, via Pexels.

Part of Grammar:
Adjective 1; Noun 2;
Verb, transitive 3

Plural for the noun: hoards
Gerund: hoarding

Third person present verb: hoards
Past tense or past participle: hoarded
Present participle: hoarding

Noun; Verb, intransitive

Plural for the noun: hordes
Gerund: hording

Third person present verb: hordes
Past tense: horded
Past participle: having horded
Present participle: hording

Think of stashing your hoard behind the loose board


Adjective:
Reserve in the mind for future use 1

Noun:
Stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded 2

Ancient store of coins or other valuable artifacts

Amassed store of useful information or facts, retained for future use

Verb, transitive:
Gather money or valued objects and hide or store it away 3

Accumulate a supply of something in a time of scarcity

Reserve in the mind for future use

Noun:
[Derogatory] A large group of people

[Anthropology] A loosely knit, small social group typically consisting of about five families.

Verb, intransitive:
To form, move in, live, or gather in a horde

Examples:
Adjective:
He held a year’s worth of hoarded resentments and grudges.

Noun:
He came back to rescue his little hoard of gold.

He unearthed a hoard of Romano-British bronzes.

He had a hoard of secret information about his work.

Verb, transitive:
There were thousands of antiques hoarded by a compulsive collector.

Many of the boat people had hoarded rations.

He had hoarded a year’s worth of resentments and grudges.

Noun:
He was surrounded by a horde of tormenting relatives.

A horde of screaming barbarians crested the hill.

It’s your turn to host Thanksgiving dinner for the horde this year.

Verb, intransitive:
The prisoners horded together in the compound.

I’m afraid the squirrels are hording.

Derivatives:
Adjective: unhoarded
Noun: hoarder, hoarding
History of the Word:
  1. Unknown.
  2. Old English hord is of Germanic origin and related to the German Hort.
  3. Old English hordian is of Germanic origin and related to the German horten.
Mid-16th century originally denoting a tribe or troop of Tartar or other nomads from the Polish horda which is from the Turkish ordu meaning (royal) camp.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Hoard versus Horde

Apple Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com: horde

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Wager’s Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708, is an oil on canvas by Samuel Scott from the Collection of the National Maritime Museum and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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