the ethnonym "ho" is derived from the ho language word "hō" meaning "human". the name is also applied to their language which is an austroasiatic language closely related to mundari. according to "ethnologue", the total number of people speaking the ho language was 1,040,000 as of 2001. similar to other austroasiatic groups in the area, the ho report varying degrees of multilingualism, also using hindi and english.