Origin: 1275–1325; Middle English hucche, variant of whucce,Old English hwicce chest; not akin to Old French huge, huche (ch form apparently by contamination with English word)
c.1300, "storage chest" (also applied to the biblical "ark of God"), from O.Fr. huche, from M.L. hutica "chest," of uncertain origin. Sense of "cupboard for food or dishes" first recorded 1671; that of "box-like pen for an animal" is from 1607.