Learn English – the origin of the term “hit point”

etymology

I've looked this up on several sites, including Wiktionary.com, Dictionary.com, and etymonline.com, but the results in all three are the same: no results.

I was just wondering, where did this term come from? Who coined it? When did it come into use? Does anyone have information regarding this word?

Edit: The only context would be in gaming, where the hitpoints of a character are shown.

Best Answer

Hit Points as a way of referencing the general remaining health of a person is taken from the game Dungeons and Dragons, originally published back in the '70s. It was the first really popular stat-based role-playing game, and became kind of a touchstone for geekyness.

The idea was that you had a given number of hit points, based on your character class, constitution, and level. When attacked, you lose a certain number based on the power of the attack and a die roll. When/if your "HP" drops to 0, you die.

There are other games that use a "hit point" system these days, and probably were before D&D, but that is the game that popularized the concept. If you hear someone talking about "hit points" in real life, they are making a nerdy D&D reference.