Hip hip hooray

How the cheer works

The cheer is usually performed as a shared ritual between a single leader and an assembled group. To begin, one person calls for three cheers dedicated to a specific honouree. The leader then shouts out the prompt hip hip, and the audience immediately replies in unison with hooray or hurrah. This exchange repeats three times in total. In earlier eras, variations included the introductory phrase three times three or a three-part prompt of hip hip hip. An individual can also utter the phrase independently as a spontaneous cry of delight or approval.

Origins and development

The custom took root in England during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Early English dictionaries recorded hip on its own as an exclamation used to catch someone's attention, with repeated uses appearing by 1790. Over the following decade, speakers began using hip-hip to introduce a toast or collective praise. The complete modern phrase was documented by 1813. One speculative theory suggested by author Jack Weatherford proposes that hurrah entered European speech from a Mongol cry of camaraderie and boldness.

Social occasions

Today, the cheer accompanies significant milestones and public gatherings across several nations. In Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, it is customary to raise three cheers immediately after singing a birthday song. The ritual also plays a role in civic ceremony. In both the United Kingdom and Canada, crowds and officials have long employed the cheer to salute the reigning monarch at state events, serving as a lively vocal gesture of public goodwill.

Debated meanings

A popular claim once held that hip originated as a Latin acronym for a phrase meaning Jerusalem is lost, linked in lore to the Hep hep riots of 1819 in Germany. However, scholars including Michael Fontaine and Ritchie Robertson have rejected this idea as folk etymology without historical basis, noting that the Latin claim first surfaced in an English newspaper letter weeks after the violence occurred. Historically, the cheer simply evolved from practical spoken prompts into an enduring expression of joy.

How Hip hip hooray is kept

A designated speaker begins by announcing three cheers for the honoured person or cause. The leader then calls out hip hip, prompting the crowd to answer with a loud hooray. This call and response is repeated three times in succession. While often performed as a communal sequence, a single speaker can also utter the full phrase as an exclamation.

When and where

The cheer does not belong to a fixed calendar date. Instead, it is spoken whenever an occasion calls for congratulations, notably directly after a birthday song, following a dinner toast, or during a royal public appearance.

Widely practised across the English-speaking world and beyond, the cheer is especially common at social gatherings and civic ceremonies in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

What Hip hip hooray means

The cheer acts as a collective burst of goodwill and encouragement. By inviting everyone in a room to join their voices in a structured rhythm, it transforms personal congratulations into a shared communal salute, celebrating unity and honouring an individual or achievement.

Questions people ask about Hip hip hooray

See also

Chelsea Flower ShowA five-day May horticultural festival held in London by the Royal Horticultural SocietySaint David's DayThe national feast day of Wales, marked with parades, poetry contests and daffodilsLao New YearA mid-April water festival and Buddhist celebration marking the Lao new yearDamba festivalA Ghanaian celebration of royal authority, ancestral memory, music and dance

Good reading and sources

• Queen unveils plaque marking navy's 100thCBC, Article
• Queen unveils plaque marking navy's 100thCBC, Article

• Hip hip hooray on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-06.