حُوت

حُوت (noun)

Etymology: The source is unknown. Presumably of particularly ancient origin, which may have allowed for derivations from the roots ح ي و (ḥ y w) “living” or ح و ي (ḥ w y) “writhing; containing”—derivations unworkable with transmitted Arabic grammar. However the Northwest Semitic noun-forming suffix -ūt added to Aramaic 𐤇𐤅𐤄 (ḥwh, absolute state) / 𐡇𐡅𐡉𐡄 (ḥwyh) / חויא (ḥiwyā) / ܚܘܝܐ (ḥewyā, “snake”), a well-known word with Arabic حَيَّة (ḥayya, “snake”) from the latter root, could have yielded an Arabic form *حِوُوت (*ḥiwūt, “sea-snake”), which according to the known Arabic sound law prohibiting sequences iwū and iyū in favour of ū (as in the third person plural m past of نَسِيَ (nasiya)), would have been contracted to حُوت (ḥūt).
As for non-Semitic provenance, Egyptian origin has been considered, in view of fish names hwn, hwṯn and ḥmt, without any conclusion.

Meaning: fish; whale; Pisces

From Wiktionary: حوت, by Wiktionary contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.