Hit

Hit is a word with several related meanings in English. As a verb, it means to strike with force or to cause to collide, and as a noun it can denote the act of striking or the resulting impact. In everyday usage, a hit can be a blow delivered during an altercation or a collision between objects.

In sports and games, a hit often refers to advancing by contact with a ball or opponent. In baseball, a hit is credited to a batter when they reach base by fair ball without a fielder's choice or error. In other sports, a hit may refer to striking a ball, scoring by contact, or the act of striking a target.

In entertainment and media, a hit is a work that achieves notable popularity or success, such as a chart-topping song or a commercially successful film or television episode. A "hit single" traditionally means a song that achieves major radio play and sales or streams.

In computing and information science, a hit can refer to a successful match or retrieval, such as a cache hit (data found in cache) or a search hit. The term often appears in phrases like hit rate, which is the proportion of requests that yield positive matches.

The word carries both literal and metaphorical senses, often bridging physical action and popular success. Context typically clarifies whether a reference is about impact, sport, entertainment, or data retrieval.