Hürde

• Horde, Hurde (see usage notes below)

From Middle High German hürde, genitive/dative of hurt, from Old High German hurd (“wickerwork”), from Proto-West Germanic *hurdi, *hurþi. The Old High German form (along with Old Saxon hurth) requires *þ. The byform hurt may have underlying *d, unless it is due to final devoicing (which is at any rate the case in Middle High German). The sports sense (late 19th c.) is a calque of English hurdle (since 1830s).

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʏrdə/, [ˈhʏʁ.də], [ˈhʏɐ̯.də]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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Hürde f (genitive Hürde, plural Hürden)

1. hurdle
   1. (sports, now the main use) obstacle for athletes
   2. (figurative) any obstacle to be overcome
      • 2023 August 30, Esther Geißlinger, “Flensburger Baupläne stocken: Das fehlende Formular”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[1], →ISSN:

        Geht es schief, wäre es nicht das erste Mal, dass die Flensburger Verwaltung ein Großprojekt plant, ohne alle rechtlichen und formalen Hürden aus dem Weg zu räumen […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   3. (agriculture, forestry) mobile fencing element (formerly often of twigs, now more often other materials)
      • 1797, August Wilhelm Schlegel, transl., Ein Sommernachtstraum‎^[2], translation of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, [Act II, scene i]:

        Leer steht die Hürd auf der ersäuften Flur, / Und Krähen prassen in der siechen Herde.

        The fold stands empty in the drownèd field, / And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;

   4. rack on which fruit and vegetables are stored or dried

• In senses 1.1 and 1.2, only the form Hürde is used.
• In the original senses 1.3 and 1.4, many dictionaries prescribe a distinction: Hürde for “fencing element” and Horde for “rack”. However, both forms can be found in both senses. In fact, it appears that Horde is now predominant in the technical parlance of agriculture and forestry, though there is also a regional difference insofar as Horde is the more northern form. A third form, also in both senses, is Hurde (southern, chiefly Swiss).

• “Hürde” in Duden online
• “Hürde” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Hürde” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.