Hyphenation
hood·lumTurkish pronunciation
hûdlımPronunciation
/ˈho͝odləm/ /ˈhʊdləm/
Etymology
[ 'hüd-l&m, 'hud- ] (noun.) 1871. 1871. Origin unknown, but many explanations have been put forward. Online Etymology Dictionary says that a guess as good as any is from Ger. dial. (Bavarian) Huddellump (“ragamuffin”). According to Herbert Asbury in his book The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld (1933, A. A. Knopf, New York), the word originated in San Francisco from the call of a particular street gang, huddle 'em. Thousands of resentful unemployed Irish workers beat up Chinese migrants. San Francisco newspapers thereafter took to calling street gangs "hoodlums".