hint
n.
c.1600, apparently from obsolete hent, from Middle English hinten "to tell, inform" (c.1400), from Old English hentan "to seize," from Proto-Germanic *hantijan (cognates: Gothic hinþan "to seize"), related to hunt, v.. Modern sense and spelling first attested in Shakespeare.
v.
1640s, from hint, n.. Related: Hinted; hinting.