A cushioned footstool or a thick cushion used for kneeling in church, or a dense clump of grass or sedge.
From Old English 'hassuc,' possibly related to 'hose' or from Germanic roots. The word has existed in English for over a thousand years with relatively stable meaning.
A hassock is one of those words that reveals how church life shaped English vocabulary—every church had hassocks for kneeling parishioners, so the word became so common it survived even after churches started using chairs instead. Medieval craftsmanship made these dense, hard-wearing cushions.
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