Hank Aaron

9 4.4

An American baseball player who hit more career home runs than Babe Ruth

proper noun
/hæŋk ˈɛrən/

: Hank Aaron

The Atlanta Braves honored Hank Aaron with a statue outside their stadium.

Examples

Hank Aaron was celebrated for breaking Babe Ruth’s longstanding home run record.
Hank Aaron was a legend.
Many consider Hank Aaron to be one of baseball's all-time greatest players.
What an incredible career Hank Aaron had!
Hank Aaron is remembered as one of the greatest baseball players of all time, celebrated for breaking Hank Aaron's home run record.
In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, surpassing Babe Ruth's long-standing record and cementing his legacy in baseball history.
Many fans consider Hank Aaron to be an iconic figure in sports, not only for his hitting ability but also for his contributions to civil rights.

Surface Forms

Hank Aaron main

Morphology

Hank + Aaron

This is a proper name referring to a specific person; the label 'Hank Aaron' is an arbitrary, referential identifier and does not compose a meaning from its parts. A B1 learner who knows the individual name-words would not be able to infer the biographical information (famous baseball player) without encyclopedic/world knowledge, so the expression is idiomatic/opaque in this sense.

Etymology

Hank Aaron is the name of an American baseball player who hit so many home runs that he broke Babe Ruth's long-standing record in 1974. Because of that, people now use his name when they mean one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.