hacker

English Online Dictionary. What means hacker‎? What does hacker mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English hakker, hackere, hakkere, equivalent to hack +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hækə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ækə(ɹ)

Noun

hacker (plural hackers)

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

   Synonyms: (outside US) cracker, black hat

   • 2007, Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States, Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace

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

3. (computer security) A computer security professional, a white-hat hacker.

   Synonym: white hat

4. (video games, slang) Someone who gains an unfair advantage in a video game by means of a disallowed modification to the game; a cheater.

   Hyponym: aimbotter
5. Something that hacks; a tool or device for hacking.
   • 1825?, "Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder", in The Newgate Calendar: comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters, page 231:

     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.

   • July 1846, John Macleod, "The Tar and Turpentine Business of North Carolina", on page 15 of the Monthly Journal of Agriculture, volume II, number 1:

     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 and Awards of the United States Centennial Commission (regarding the) International Exhibition, 1876 (Francis A. Walker, editor), Reports on Awards, Group XXI, page 13:

     23. George C. howard, Philadelphia, 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.

6. (UK, regional) A fork-shaped tool used to harvest root vegetables.
7. Someone who hacks.
   1. One who cuts with rough or heavy blows.
      • 1902, Our Wonderful Progress, Trumbull White (editor), page 623–624:

        In January or February the "hacker," with his keen-bladed ax, begins the round which ends the season. [...] 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 kicks wildly or roughly.
   3. One who is consistent and focuses on accomplishing a task or several tasks.
8. (US) One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity, especially a sport such as golf or tennis.
9. (US) One who operates a taxicab.

Usage notes

• There are significantly more meanings of the word within the United States than in other English-speaking nations.
• The use of the word hacker to indicate a person who displays skill, particularly with computers, may be misunderstood as implying the narrow meaning of unauthorised intrusion into electronic systems (also known as a cracker or occasionally black hat). This serious misunderstanding in the field of computer expertise is perhaps particularly common outside the United States.
• Some computer enthusiasts object to the use of hacker for a person who breaks into computer systems, preferring cracker for this sense.
• Most recently there has been a tendency to use hacker in a positive sense in other domains: growth hacker, food hacker, sex hacker, etc.

Derived terms

Related terms

• (computer security) hacktivist

Descendants

Translations

References

Further reading

• hacker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hacker's dictionary definition of hacker US only
• RFC1392 - Internet Users' Glossary, Jan 1993

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English hacker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦɛkr̩]
• IPA^(key): [ˈɦɛkɛr]

Noun

hacker m anim (related adjective hackerský)

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

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• hacker in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz

Danish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhaɡ̊ɐ]

Noun

hacker c (singular definite hackeren, plural indefinite hackere)

1. (computing) hacker

Declension

Verb

hacker

1. present of hacke

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English hacker.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /ˈɦɛ.kər)/
• Hyphenation: hac‧ker
• Rhymes: -ɛkər

Noun

hacker m (plural hackers)

1. A hacker.

Related terms

• hack
• hacken

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ke/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English hacker.

Noun

hacker m (plural hackers)

1. (computing) hacker

   Synonym: hackeur

Etymology 2

From English hack +‎ -er.

Verb

hacker

1. (computing) to hack

Conjugation

Hungarian

Alternative forms

• hekker

Etymology

Borrowed from English hacker.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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)

Declension

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

Pronunciation

Noun

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)

Derived terms

• hackear

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

Noun

hacker m (plural hackeri)

1. hacker

Declension

Spanish

Alternative forms

• hácker, jáquer

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hacker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxakeɾ/ [ˈxa.keɾ]
• Rhymes: -akeɾ

Noun

hacker m or f (plural hackers or hacker)

1. (computing) hacker

Usage notes

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.

Derived terms

Further reading

• “hacker”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• “hacker” in Lexico, Oxford University Press.