Did you know?
"What is a hobbit?" wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in the 1937 fantasy novel that introduced Mr. Bilbo Baggins. The author then answered himself: "They are (or were) little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves.... There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along...." Tolkien tells us that hobbits "are inclined to be fat," and that they "dress in bright colours"; they "have good-natured faces, and deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner)." Tolkien, a professional linguist who taught at Oxford, coined the word hobbit (and many other terms—in fact, a whole new language) for The Hobbit and for his enormously popular series The Lord of the Rings.
Examples of hobbit in a Sentence
K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2024
But uncertainties remain about the hobbits’ evolution.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
Wood led the movie series as Frodo Baggins, who inherits the titular ring from his uncle, Bilbo, and embarks on a quest (with help from other hobbits, like Monaghan's Merry and Boyd's Pippin) to destroy it.
—EW.com, 2 Sep. 2024
Some of the hobbits’ ancestors may have been even shorter than thought, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hobbit 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hobbit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to hobbit
Dictionary Entries Near hobbit
Cite this Entry
“Hobbit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hobbit. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share