[Ads-l] hawt

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is a citation for "hawt" meaning sexually attractive in 1986.
(Plenty of room for improvement.)

Date: November 14-20, 1986
Periodical: LA Weekly
Periodical Location: Los Angeles, California
Article: Rocker's Report by Screamin' Mimi & Mike "Par-tay" Johnson
Quote Page 51, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/image/578509430/?terms=hawt&match=1

[Begin excerpt]
I met this total fox named Byron at the Rainbow last night. He works
at Elektra, and he said he'd put me on the list for Metallica plus
one. Totally far out, huh?!
Par-tay: Hawt! But no way! We'll miss Rosanna Arquette on Saturday
Night Live! She's so hawt!
[End excerpt]

Wiktionary entry has "hawt" meaning a hot temperature in 1896, and
"hawt" meaning sexually attractive in 2006.

[Begin Wiktionary excerpt]
hawt
Pronunciation or leetspeak spelling of hot (any sense).

1896, George Wharton Edwards, Break O’ Day, Ayer Publishing (1969),
ISBN, page 46,
"[…] Oh, 't is, eh? Well, I waant to know — kind o' hawt in here,
ain't it? Phew!" Again the orange silk handkerchief waved clouds of
suffocating musk.

Hot (sexually attractive)

2006, Robert Eversz, Zero to the Bone: A Nina Zero Novel, Simon and
Schuster, →ISBN, page 24,
A few of the comments were marginally pervy, but most were touchingly
supportive messages. Ur soooo Hawt!!! One comment read. I can’t
believe ur not gonna be a ***.
[Begin Wiktionary excerpt]

The OED has:
hawt, variant of haught, adj.
hawt, variant of ought, v.
But the OED does not appear to have hawt as a variant of hot.

Garson

On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 12:15 PM Jonathan Lighter
<00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/billie-eilish-low-cut-top-093736836.html
> :
>
> Needless to say, fans have flooded the comments section to gush over
> Eilish’s gorgeous look, with many calling her “hawt.”
>
> Hotter than "hot," presumably with a longer and lower vowel.
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org