hacker

A person wearing a V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask, a symbol of the decentralized hacker collective (sense 1.4) Anonymous known for its cyberattacks against various corporations, governments and organizations.

Hackers (sense 1.3) working on a GNU/Linux laptop computer.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hækə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hækəɹ/
• Rhymes: -ækə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: hack‧er

From Late Middle English hackere, hakker, hakkere (“one who cuts wood, woodchopper, woodcutter; (rare) tool for cutting wood”), from hakken, hacke (“to cut (something) with a chopping action, hack; to make a chopping action”) + -er(e) (suffix forming agent nouns). Hakken is derived from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; a handle; a hook; a peg”). The English word may be analysed as hack (“to chop or cut down in a rough manner”) +‎ -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

hacker (plural hackers)

1. Someone who hacks.
   1. One who cuts with heavy or rough blows.

      Synonyms: cutter, slasher

      • 1625, Gervase Markham, “Of the Ordering, Tilling, and Dressing of All Sorts of Plaine Barren Clayes, whether They be Simple or Compounded”, in Markhams Farwell to Husbandry or, The Inriching of All Sorts of Barren and Sterile Grounds in Our Kingdome, , revised edition, London: M F for Roger Iackson, , →OCLC, page 5:

        ne good hacker, being a luſty labourer, vvill at good eaſe hacke or cut more then halfe an Acre of ground in a day;

      • 1895 January 18, Chicago Record, quotee, “Making turpentine: An extensive industry in certain southern states”, in Edward D. Baldwin, editor, The Newton Graphic, volume XXIII, number 14, Newton, Mass.: Edward D. Baldwin, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 4:

        In January or February the "hacker," with his keen-bladed ax, begins the round which ends the season. His task is to cut the "boxes" in which the thick gum of the wounded tree will collect. A box is a wide incision about six inches deep, a wedge shaped cut in the tree, About a quart of sap is taken from each box by means of the trowel-shaped scoop used by the dipper, and then the hacker comes along and starts the flow afresh by wounding the tree again.

   2. One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity, especially (sports, originally and chiefly golf), a sport such as golf or tennis.

      a tennis hacker

      • 1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., chapter 4, in Slaughterhouse-Five  (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC, page 79:

        And then Billy was a middle-aged optometrist again, playing hacker’s golf this time—on a blazing summer Sunday morning.

      • 1979 July 2, “Reflection on the Seedings Fills Pause at Wimbledon”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 27 February 2024:

        Everybody likes to second‐guess computers, including who seed the pros. Nothing could have better exposed the vulnerability of the computer seeding than the spectacle of clay‐court experts looking like weekend hackers on grass.

   4. (computing, dated) One who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer.
      • 1968 September, Rory Thompson, Louis N Howard, thesis supervisor, “Acknowledgments”, in Instabilities of Some Time-dependent Flows (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation)‎, Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 September 2015, page 107:

        The Electrical Engineering Department, J. McKenzie in particular, for allowing me to use the PDP-1 computer to do the extensive computations, draw graphs, and even type this thesis. In this connection Charles Landau did some of the programming, Luella Thompson did most of the typing, and W. B. Ackermann helped when the machine would not cooperate. Many other computer hackers also willingly offered advice.

      • 1984, Venture: For Entrepreneurial Business Owners and Investors, volume 6, part 1, New York, N.Y.: Venture Magazine, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 142:

        A hacker starts with nothing but a dream and a floppy disk and presently finds himself in a business that's doubled and trebled. Three "diskzines" – magazines on floppy disks – started cheaply by entrepreneurs who placed ads in obscure computer journals

      • 1995 May 22, Joe Chidley, “Cracking the Net”, in Maclean’s, volume 108, Toronto, Ont.: Maclean-Hunter Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 54–56; quoted in “Bibliography”, in Suzanne Elizabeth Kender, editor, Crime in America (The Reference Shelf; volume 68, number 5), New York, N.Y.: H W Wilson Company, 1996, →ISBN, page 197:

        While most hackers are people who simply love playing with computers and who break security measures in a network only for fun or to point out flaws, there is a malicious subset of hackers known as "crackers," who intrude on computer networks to cause damage, commit fraud, or steal data.

      1. (by extension) One who applies a novel method, shortcut, skill, or trick to something to increase ease, efficiency, or productivity.

         food hacker

         growth hacker

   6. (computer security, telecommunications) One who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious attacks on, computer networks or computer systems.

      Synonyms: black hat, (outside US) cracker

      a phone hacker

      • 1986 April, Curtis Slepian, “The April Papers”, in R. Wayne Schmittberger, editor, Games, volume 10, number 4 (number 74 overall), New York, N.Y.: Playboy Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15:

        I'm a computer crook, the Willie Sutton of hackers. I break into computer systems for fun—and profit. To me, the Apple is the forbidden fruit.

      • 2007, “Category 5—Illustrative Crosscutting Problem-focused Research Areas”, in Seymour E. Goodman, Herbert S. Lin, editors, Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace, Washington, D.C.: Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States, National Research Council, →ISBN, part II (An Illustrative Research Agenda), page 205:

        Typically, one hacker will annoy another; the offended party replies by launching a denial-of-service attack against the offender.

      • 2022 October 17, Sean Lyngaas and Clare Duffy, “How a 51-year-old celebrity hacker upended one of the world’s most influential social networks”, in CNN Business‎:

        Cris “Space Rogue” Thomas, another ex-L0pht member who testified alongside Zatko that day, said that L0pht would do everything it could to get companies to collaboratively fix software issues the hacker group found.

      • 2023 December 4, Ramishah Maruf, “GTA 6 leak: ‘Grand Theft Auto’ trailer reveals game’s release date”, in CNN‎:

        In 2022, hackers leaked unreleased footage from its next iteration of GTA.

      1. (by extension, computer security, telecommunications) Synonym of white hat (“a computer security professional who hacks computers for a good cause, or to aid a company, organization, or government without causing harm (for example, to identify security flaws)”).
      2. (by extension, video games, slang) Someone who cheats or gains an unfair advantage in a video game by means of a disallowed modification to the game.

         Hyponym: aimbotter

         • 2021 June 27, Wasif Ahmed, “Tencent Banned over 3.8 Million Hackers in PUBG Mobile Last Week”, in Dot Esports‎, archived from the original on 3 June 2022:

           PUBG Mobile has seen more than its fair share of hackers, with Tencent banning millions of players every week for cheating.

         • 2022 January 11, Samed Kadirogullari, “Fortnite’s Flying Hackers Leave Ninja & CouRage Speechless”, in Screen Rant‎, archived from the original on 11 January 2022:

           Cheaters continue to plague Fortnite, as Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins and Jack 'CouRage' Dunlop have run into a hacker using fly-mode and aimbot, completely destroying and leaving both popular streamers speechless.

         • 2022 March 9, Edward Hays, “10 best Minecraft servers to play in 2022”, in Sportskeeda‎, archived from the original on 5 December 2022:

           The server is certainly not for everyone. Gamers need to be prepared to deal with many hackers, trolls, and griefers. However, those looking for a unique Minecraft experience might just find it on 2b2t.

         • 2023 January 30, Alex Garton, “Apex Legends Dev Confirms Even More Anti-cheat Improvements Coming in Season 16”, in Dexerto‎, archived from the original on 30 January 2023:

           While a patch was rolled out that's given Diamond, Master, and Predator competitors protection against DDoSing, players still want Respawn to do more about the abundance of hackers.

   7. (obsolete) Synonym of hackster (“a violent bully or ruffian; also, an assassin, a murderer”).
2. Something that hacks; a device or tool for hacking; specifically, an axe used for cutting tree branches or wood.
   • 1825, Andrew Knapp, William Baldwin, “Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder”, in The Newgate Calendar; , volume III, London: J. Robins and Co., , →OCLC, page 231, column 1:

     Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall, and kicked her in the belly: that afterwards she picked her up, and beat her with the hacker on the side of the head; wiped the blood off with a dish-clout, and took her up to bed after she was dead.

   • 1846 July, John Macleod, “The Tar and Turpentine Business of North Carolina”, in John S. Skinner, editor, The Monthly Journal of Agriculture, , volume II, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Greeley & McElrath, , published 1847, →OCLC, page 15:

     When the dipping is thus over, the next work is to "chip" or scarify the tree immediately over the box, This is done by an instrument usually called a "hacker," sometimes "shave." Its form is somewhat like a "round shave," narrowing at the cutting place to the diameter of an inch, with a shank, to be fixed securely into a strong, heavy handle of about two feet in length, while the faces of the trees are low, but the handle is made longer as years advance the faces higher.

   • 1877, “Reports on Awards. Group XXI. ”, in Francis A Walker, editor, United States Centennial Commission. International Exhibition, 1876. Reports and Awards. Group XXI, Philadelphia, Pa.: J B Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 23, page 13:

     George C. Howard, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. / grindstone hacker. / Report.—Commended for the contrivance of an instrument, called a "hacker," that is used in trimming grindstones. This hacker turns with the stone, and is drawn across in a slide rest, and fulfills its important function satisfactorily.

   1. (British, regional) A fork-shaped tool used to harvest root vegetables.
      • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XLIII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented  In Three Volumes">…], volume III, London: James R Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., , →OCLC, phase the fifth (The Woman Pays), page 44:

        The upper half of each swede-turnip had been eaten off by the live-stock, and it was the business of the two women to grab up the lower or earthy half of the root with a hooked fork called a hacker, that it might be eaten also.

      • 1893, George Edward Dartnell, Edward Hungerford Goddard, “Hack”, in A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Wiltshire, London: or the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, , →OCLC, page 72:

        Hack. To loosen the earth round potatoes, preparatory to earthing them up. This is done with a ‘tater-hacker,’ an old three-grained garden-fork, which by bending down the tines or ‘grains’ at right angles to the handle has been converted into something resembling a rake, but used as a hoe.

• Some computer enthusiasts object to the use of the word hacker for a person who breaks into computer systems (sense 1.4), preferring cracker for this sense.

• hacktivist (computer security)

Possibly from hack(ney cab) (“carriage pulled by a hackney horse, or motorized vehicle, available for public hire”) +‎ -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

hacker (plural hackers)

1. (US, road transport) One who operates a taxicab; a cabdriver.

   Synonyms: cabbie, cabman, taxi driver

   • 1938 January, Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind. Chapter 3.”, in Trouble is My Business, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, published May 1965, →OCLC, page 173:

     Start runnin' for a streetcar and they open up with machine guns and bump two pedestrians, a hacker asleep in his cab, and an old scrubwoman on the second floor workin' a mop. And they miss the guy they're after.

   • 1965 January 24, “Bird costs cabbie $10”, in The Hartford Courant, daily edition, number CXXVIII, Hartford, Conn.: The Hartford Courant Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4A, columns 4–5:

     Washington Hacker Charles A. Culp and his pet macaw parrot, Capt. Bligh, ran afoul of the law when a policeman charged Culp with failure to give full time and attention to driving, because he was tickling Capt. Bligh who has a perch in the cab.

   • 1972, Richard Lockridge, chapter 11, in Write Murder Down, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J B Lippincott Company, →ISBN, page 129:

     "That's Brooklyn," the hacker said, his tone accusing. "I don't go to Brooklyn, mister. Anyways, I'm due at the garage." Nathan Shapiro is usually gentle with cab drivers. He was not, this hot afternoon of a fruitless day—and a day which was supposed to have been an off-duty day—Shapiro felt no gentleness.

From hack (“(obsolete) to confuse or mangle (words) when speaking”) +‎ -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs).

hacker (third-person singular simple present hackers, present participle hackering, simple past and past participle hackered)

1. (intransitive, chiefly British, dialectal, archaic) To speak with a spasmodic repetition of vocal sounds; to stammer, to stutter; also, to mumble and procrastinate in one's speech; to hem and haw.
   • 1642, Lewes Hughes, “The Errors and Ungodliness of the Service Displaid and Laid Open, by Way of a Dialogue between a Countrey Gentleman, and a Minister of Gods Word”, in Certain Grievances, or The Popish Errors and Ungodlinesse of the Service-book; , 5th edition, London: T. P., →OCLC, page 13:

     The interrupting of the Miniſter by the Clark, and the vvhole congregation, vvhen he readeth the Pſalms, by taking every other verſe out of his mouth, vvith an hackering confuſed noiſe, eſpecially in countrey Churches, vvhere the people cannot read vvell.

     An adjective use.

   • 1810, Alexander Vassiliavitch Suvorof, “Appendix No. II. Field Marshal Court Alexander Vassiliavitch Suvorof’s ‘Discourse under the Trigger;’ ”, in Edward Daniel Clarke, Travels in Various Countries of Europe Asia and Africa, 1st part (Russia Tartary and Turkey), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press by R. Watts for T Cadell and W Davies , →OCLC, page 709:

     Stammering, hackering—and so forth; it's shameful to relate! A soldier should be sound, brave, firm, decisive, true, honourable!

   • 1814 June 18 (date written), Mary Russell Mitford, “To Mrs. Mitford, Bertram House”, in A. G. K. L’Estrange, editor, The Life of Mary Russell Mitford, Told by Herself in Letters to Her Friends.  In Two Volumes.">…], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , published 1870, →OCLC, page 214:

     y noble patron has my habit of hackering so completely that he scarcely speaks three words without two stops; but when we get at his meaning it is better than any one's.

   • 1824, Mary Russell Mitford, “Hannah”, in Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery, volume I, London: G and W. B. Whittaker, , →OCLC, page 22:

     Since the new marriage act, we, who belong to country magistrates, have gained a priority over the rest of the parish in matrimonial news. Many a blushing awkward pair hath our litle lame clerk (a sorry Cupid!) ushered in between dark and light to stammer and hacker, to bow and curtsy, to sign or make a mark, as it pleases Heaven.

   • 1825 March 9, William Cobbett, “To the Electors of Westminster. On the Speech of Sir Francis Burdett, of the 1st March 1825, when He Presented the Petition of the Catholics of Ireland.”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume 53, number 11, London: C Clement, , published 12 March 1825, →OCLC, column 643:

     oor Adams became flustered, and hackered and stammered, as if in the way of imitating the Westminster Ciceros.

   • 1891, J C Atkinson, “How Little Jack Came to be Called the Wolf-queller”, in The Last of the Giant Killers: Or The Exploits of Sir Jack of Danby Dale, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 52:

     Certainly, some folks said that he was a born fool, and that he said so few words because he hackered and stammered so awfully. But that, belike, was only jealousy.

   • 1892, M C F Morris, “Specimens of the Folk-talk”, in Yorkshire Folk-talk with Characteristics of Those who Speak It in the North and East Ridings, London: Henry Frowde, ; York, Yorkshire: John Sampson, →OCLC, page 122:

     He hackered an' stammered leyke an au'd ganthert chooakin wi bran.

   • 1914, Thomas Hardy, “ The Obliterate Tomb.”, in Satires of Circumstance: Lyrics and Reveries with Miscellaneous Pieces, London: Macmillan and Co., , →OCLC, page 179:

     "Ha," they hollowly hackered, / "You come, forsooth, / "By stealth to obliterate / Our graven worth, our chronicle, our date, / That our descendant may not gild the record / Of our past state, "

• hacker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• hacker (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• G. Malkin, T. LaQuey Parker, editors (January 1993), “hacker”, in RFC 1392 – Internet Users’ Glossary‎, archived from the original on 12 February 2023.
• Eric S Raymond, editor (29 December 2003), “hacker”, in The Jargon File, version 4.4.7‎, archived from the original on 7 September 2023.

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

• IPA^(key):
• IPA^(key):

hacker m anim (relational adjective hackerský)

1. hacker (one who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data, or to carry out malicious attacks)

• “hacker”, in Akademický slovník cizích slov at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz (in Czech), 1995

Borrowed from English hacker, equivalent to hacke +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key):

hacker c (singular definite hackeren, plural indefinite hackere)

1. (computing) hacker

hacker

1. present of hacke

Borrowed from English hacker.

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /ˈɦɛ.kər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hac‧ker
• Rhymes: -ɛkər

hacker m (plural hackers)

1. a hacker

• hack
• hacken

• IPA^(key): /a.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

Borrowed from English hacker.

hacker m (plural hackers)

1. (computing) hacker

   Synonym: hackeur

From English hack +‎ -er.

hacker

1. (computing) to hack

Hungarian Wikipedia has an article on:

hacker

Wikipedia ^hu

• hekker

Borrowed from English hacker.

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: ha‧cker
• Rhymes: -ɛr

hacker (plural hackerek)

1. (computing) hacker (one who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer)
2. (computing) hacker (one who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data, or to carry out malicious attacks)

• ráquer

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

hacker m or f by sense (plural hackers)

1. (computing) hacker (one who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer)
2. (computing) hacker (one who uses a computer to gain unauthorised access to data)

• hackear

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

hacker m (plural hackeri)

1. hacker

Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:

hacker

Wikipedia ^es

• hácker, jáquer, jacker

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxakeɾ/
• Rhymes: -akeɾ

hacker m or f by sense (plural hackers or hacker)

1. (computing) hacker
   • 2025 June 28, Sean Lyngaas, “El cártel de Sinaloa rastreó con un hacker a un funcionario del FBI y mató a posibles informantes, según Gobierno de EE.UU.”, in CNN en Español‎:

     Un cártel de droga mexicano contrató a un hacker para vigilar los movimientos de un alto funcionario del FBI en Ciudad de México en 2018 o incluso antes, recopilando información del sistema de cámaras de la ciudad que permitió al cártel matar a posibles informantes del FBI, según dijo en un nuevo informe el inspector general del Departamento de Justicia.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “hacker”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy , 10 December 2024
• “hacker” in Lexico, Oxford University Press.
• jacker | Diccionario de americanismos | ASALE