hamlet
hamlet Lexical Profile
hamlet Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A very small rural settlement, generally smaller than a village and lacking its own church or municipal government.
"The narrow country road wound through a quiet farming hamlet of stone cottages before reaching the main highway."
Any of several small, brightly colored marine reef fishes of the genus Hypoplectrus (family Serranidae), native to the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and noted for being simultaneous hermaphrodites.
"While snorkeling over the shallow coral reef in the Caribbean, we spotted a vividly striped barred hamlet hovering near a sea sponge."
Word Nuance & Usage
In traditional British geography, a hamlet is distinguished from a village by the absence of a parish church.
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French 'hamelet', a double diminutive of 'ham' (meaning 'village'), which comes from Frankish '*haim' and shares a Germanic root with the English word 'home'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.