hébe-hóba

== Hungarian == === Etymology === hé (Old Hungarian variant of hő (“heat”)) +‎ -be (“in”, folksy variant of -ben) +‎ hó (“snow”) +‎ -ba (“in”, folksy variant of -ban). Its original meaning was “in heat and in snow”, that is “always”. Later, the meaning of its parts had faded because of its similarity to reduplications such as gizgaz (“weed”) and mendemonda (“hearsay”); this may be how its current meaning changed to “sometimes”. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈheːbɛhoːbɒ] Hyphenation: hé‧be-‧hó‧ba Rhymes: -bɒ === Adverb === hébe-hóba (idiomatic) every now and then, every once in a while, sometimes (very seldom) Synonyms: egyszer-kétszer, elvétve, időnként, hellyel-közzel, nagy ritkán, néha, olykor-olykor === References === === Further reading === hébe-hóba in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.