Etymology From Middle English hamlet, hamelet, a borrowing from Old French hamelet, diminutive of Old French hamel, in turn diminutive of Old French ham, of Germanic origin, from Frankish *haim, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (whence English home). Equivalent to Middle English ham (“home, village”) + -let (“small”).
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A small settlement or a group of houses, often defined as a settlement smaller than a village.
Coal′brookdale, a hamlet of England, co. of Salop, on a railway, 2 miles N. of Broseley, on the Severn. Pop. 1574, engaged in collieries, foundries, and fire-brick and tobacco-pipe manufactories.1880, J.B. Lippincott Company, Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places, page 510:
Georgetown, a hamlet in Frederick co., Md., on the Frederick & Pennsylvania Line Railroad, 6 miles N.E. of Frederick. It has 2 churches.1880, J.B. Lippincott Company, Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places, page 843:
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No, no. It's a cute little town. Actually, I think they call it a "hamlet." That's how cute it is.2023, Sam Esmail, Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind, spoken by Amanda (Julia Roberts):
One hundred thirtie two thousand of Parish Churches, Hamlets, and Villages of all sorts.1604, View of Frannce:
The case stated, That Thomas G., the pauper, […] served that year at S.; which is a hamlet consisting of one house only, and between three and four hundred acres of land : that the said hamlet of S. had never contributed towards the relief of the poor of the parish of T., nor had ever been assessed thereto; but had always been assessed, and had always paid to the support of the parish church of T.: […]1827, E. Bott, edited by John Tidd Pratt, The Laws Relating to the Poor, Including the Collections Originally Made by E. Bott ... and Afterwards Edited by F. Const ... The Sixth Edition: in which the Statutes and Cases to Hilary Term 1827 are Arranged Under Their Respective Heads ..., volume 2, page 662:
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Hunsley is a hamlet in the parish of Rowley.1888, Thomas Burton, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Hemingsbrough in the County of York, page 172:
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Canada, Specifically An unincorporated community of whatever size, lacking its own municipal government, but with defined boundaries.
[…] Wessex county (a pseudonym) comprising rural area (pop. 8,434); four incorporated towns plus the section of land containing the largest hamlet in the county (pop. 2,489)1970, World Health Organization, World Health Organization/International Collaborative Study of Medical Care Utilization:
Sherwood Park is a hamlet with a population of 35 500 while the rural area has a population exceeding 20 000 people.1993, John S. Marczyk, Denis B. Johnson, Sustainable Landscapes: Proceedings of the Third Symposium of the Canadian Society for Landscape Ecology and Management, University of Alberta, June 1992:
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By disincorporating, village residents would reduce their taxes by one third, even with a special debt recovery levy. The Improvement District, conversely, was only minimally effected by absorbing the Village. The Village voted to dissolve into a hamlet within the ID, but retained its name.1998, Nancy Klos, The State of Unicity: 25 Years Later: Conference Proceedings (October 3-4, 1997), Institute of Urban Studies, →ISBN:
In 1972, the village was dissolved, and the community became an organized hamlet.2008, David McLennan, Our Towns: Saskatchewan Communities from Abbey to Zenon Park, page 11:
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Any of the fish of the genus Hypoplectrus in the family Serranidae.
Larval hamlets are similar to larval Serranus and spend several weeks in the plankton feeding on a variety of tiny crustaceans and invertebrates before metamorphosing and settling on to the reef.1980, Ronald E. Thresher, Reef Fish: Behavior and Ecology on the Reef and in the Aquarium:
Shy Hamlet […] The back of this hamlet is dark in some specimens but a much bluer shade in others. […] Amazingly, each fish is a hermaphrodite, possessing both male and female sex organs, so any two Shy Hamlets should be able to mate successfully.2019 February 12, David Alderton, Encyclopedia of Aquarium and Pond Fish, Penguin, →ISBN, page 272:
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Lastly, we get to the things that you should be able to keep with tridacnines without worrying. […] There should be no problems with any of the grammas, groupers, hamlets, hawkfishes, or jawfishes, either.2023, James W. Fatherree, Giant Clams in the Reef Aquarium: Biology, Identification, and Care, James W Fatherree, →ISBN, page 158:
Etymology Acronym of Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumor cells, chosen to spell out Hamlet.
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Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A protein complex of alpha-lactalbumin and oleic acid that induces apoptosis in tumor cells, but not in healthy cells.