Etymologically
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drip

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English drippen,[2][3][4] probably inherited from Old English dryppan (“to drip”), also drȳpan,[2][3][5][6][7][8] from Proto-Germanic *drupjaną,[2][7] a form from the u-grade of the root of drēopan (“to drip”), the source of dreep.[7][9][10] The Old English verb rests mainly on the imperative drype in the “Leechdoms”, and since drippen is not found again before the 15th century, the OED thinks the modern verb may be from Norse, comparing Danish dryppe.[7] Barnhart, who reads this form as a possible subjunctive, considers it probably Scandinavian, comparing Old Norse dreypa (“to let fall in drops”);[4] Skeat, Hoad and Weekley also derive it from Scandinavian.[9][11][10] Related forms include Middle Low German druppen, Dutch druipen, Old High German troufen and German triefen,[2][4][8] and the verb is related to drop and droop;[2][12] Etymonline suggests a root Proto-Indo-European *dʰreu-.[2][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To let a liquid fall in drops: in Old English, in the Leechdoms (about 1000).[7][4] Etymonline dates Middle English drippen, to fall or let fall in drops, to about 1300,[2] and Barnhart gives it the sense "drop down" about 1300 and "fall in drops" in 1440.[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun appears in about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum, for a single falling drop, a sense lost after 1552.[7][14] From 1508 the verb was used of a person or thing shedding drops; from about 1670 it was also used of the liquid itself falling in drops.[7] The noun came to mean a projection on a cornice that throws rainwater off the wall (1664),[7][3] the act of dripping (1675) and the liquid that drips (1704).[7] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "that which falls in drops".[15] In the 20th century the noun gained slang senses: nonsense or sentimental flattery, in American use from 1919, and a dull or feeble person from 1932, perhaps from the first;[7][2][16] the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins dates the second to the mid 20th century.[12] In medicine a drip is the slow introduction of fluid into the body, from 1933,[7][2] and in naval slang the verb meant to grumble (1942).[7] Drip coffee is recorded from 1895.[3] The variant drib gave dribble and survives in dribs and drabs.[12] In Cheshire dialect to drip a cow was to draw the last drops of milk, and in Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire and Lancashire as white as drip meant as white as driven snow.[17]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – to let a liquid fall in drops.[7][4]
  • c. 1300 – drippen, to fall in drops.[2][4]
  • c. 1440 – noun, a falling drop.[7][14]
  • 1508 – to shed drops, to be soaking wet.[7]
  • 1664 – a projection that throws off rainwater.[7][3]
  • c. 1670 – of a liquid, to fall in drops.[7]
  • 1895 – drip coffee.[3]
  • 1919 – slang, nonsense or sentimental flattery.[7][16]
  • 1932 – slang, a dull or feeble person.[7][2]
  • 1933 – in medicine, the slow introduction of fluid into the body.[7][2]
  • 1942 – naval slang, to grumble.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fall in drops: Rain dripped from the gutters all night.[18][13][7]
  2. To let something fall in drops: The brush dripped varnish onto the floor.[18][13][7]
  3. To shed drops; to be soaking wet.[13][7]
  4. To be full of something, as if overflowing with it: a reply that dripped with scorn.[13][3]
  5. (naval slang) To grumble.[7]

Noun

  1. The falling of liquid in drops, or the sound it makes.[18][13][7]
  2. Liquid that drips.[7][5]
  3. (medicine) The slow, drop-by-drop intravenous administration of a fluid; the fluid or the apparatus used.[18][7]
  4. (architecture) A projection on a cornice or sill that throws rainwater clear of the wall below.[18][7][5]
  5. (informal) A dull, feeble or insipid person.[18][7][2]
  6. (slang) Nonsense; sentimental drivel.[7][16]

Adjective

  1. Of coffee: made by letting hot water drip slowly through the grounds.[3]

Word family

  • dripper
  • dripless
  • drippage
  • drippy
  • dripstone
  • nondrip
  • drip-dry
  • drip-feed
  • drop
  • droop
  • dreep
  • dribble
  • drib

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  9. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  14. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins