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Etymology and origin of the English word pip

Pronunciation

pip1 disease of poultry

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1373
Borrowed from
Middle Dutch pippe via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin pītuīta

Etymology

The disease of birds is inherited from Middle English pippe,[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Middle Dutch pippe (“mucus, slime; the pip”),[6][3][7][4][5] which goes back to Medieval Latin pipita or an unrecorded *pippita.[6][4] This is probably an alteration of Latin pītuīta (“phlegm, slime”),[6][4][8][9] the source of pituitary.[7][5][9] Hoad and Etymonline see in the Dutch word an early West Germanic borrowing, Proto-West Germanic *pipit,[8][3] which also gave Middle Low German pip and Old High German pfipfiz,[8][6][9] and was the source of German Pips.[3][9][5] The Latin form also gave French pépie, Italian pipita and Spanish pepita.[6][10] Merriam-Webster relates the Latin word to Old Irish ith (“grain”).[4] The surname “Piphed” of 1273 may show that the word was already current in English.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A disease of birds marked by thick mucus in the mouth and throat: Barnhart dates the form pipe to 1373,[7] and Etymonline puts the word in the late 14th century.[3] The OED's first quotation is from before 1425, in the Medulla Grammatice, a Latin–English glossary.[6]

Semantic evolution

The word named the white scale on a sick bird's tongue as well as the disease.[4][9] From the 15th century it was also used, often humorously, of illness in people,[6] and Merriam-Webster notes that it was once applied locally to various ailments, from a slight cough to dyspepsia.[4] In Warwickshire dialect it meant dyspepsia, and in Somerset and Devon to take pip at something was to take offence at it.[11] Green's Dictionary of Slang records the sense "ill humour" from 1538.[12] The phrases to have the pip, to feel low or unwell, and to give someone the pip, to annoy them, are recorded from 1881.[6] A verb pip, to remove the scale from a sick fowl's tongue, was used from 1530 to 1749.[6] Johnson (1755) described the disease as a horny skin growing on the tip of a fowl's tongue.[13]

Timeline

  • 1373 – the disease of birds, as pipe.[7] The OED's first quotation is from before 1425.[6]
  • before 1450 – illness in people.[6]
  • 1530 – the verb, to remove the scale from a fowl's tongue (obsolete by 1749).[6]
  • 1538 – ill humour.[12]
  • 1881 – to have the pip, to give someone the pip.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A disease of poultry and other birds, in which a scale or crust forms on the tip of the tongue, often with a respiratory infection; also the scale itself.[4][6][9]
  2. (informal) the pip: a fit of bad temper or low spirits, or a mild illness: The constant rain gave the whole family the pip.[4][6]

pip2 spot on cards and dice

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
1604 Middleton, The Ant and the Nightingale

Etymology

The spot on a card or dice is of unknown origin;[6][4][9][5][14] it was first spelled “peep”.[7][3][4] Because of this older form and the difference in dates, Etymonline no longer derives it from the seed, pip3.[3] The OED compares pippin and pick, and notes a suggested derivation from the verb peep, to look, comparing Middle High German ouge and German Auge (“eye”) used for a dot on a dice;[6] Weekley also thought it the same word as peep, through the notion of eyes, noting that the Germanic languages call these spots "eyes".[10] The verb, to beat narrowly or to blackball, apparently comes from this noun or from the seed, either taken as "a small ball";[6][9][4] Green's Dictionary of Slang takes the sense "to blackball" as a figurative use of the spot on a dice or card.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Each of the dots or symbols on a playing card, a dice or a domino: the OED's first quotation is from 1604, in Middleton's The Ant and the Nightingale,[6] the date Merriam-Webster also gives.[4] Barnhart and Etymonline date the form peep to 1604 or about 1600,[7][3] and Dictionary.com to 1590–1600.[15] The form pip is found from 1674, in Charles Cotton's The Complete Gamester.[7]

Semantic evolution

From the dots on cards the word spread to other small marks: a small spot or speck, especially on the skin (1676), now regional in England and colloquial in the US;[6][4] the diamond-shaped segments on the surface of a pineapple (1753);[6] and, in gardening, a single flower in a cluster, as of a cowslip (1752), chiefly in British regional use.[6] A figurative sense, a small amount or degree, was used from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew into the 18th century.[6][9] From 1917 pip was the name of the stars on an army officer's shoulder,[6][10] and since 1944 of a spike or spot on a radar or oscilloscope screen.[6][4] The verb meant first to beat narrowly (1838),[6][4] then to blackball (1880),[12] to hit with a shot (1900), to fail in an examination (1908) and to die (1913);[6] to pip at the post is recorded from 1924, in P. G. Wodehouse.[6]

Timeline

  • 1604 – a dot on a playing card or dice, at first spelled peep.[6][7][4]
  • before 1616 – figuratively, a small amount (obsolete by 1779).[6]
  • 1674 – the form pip.[7]
  • 1676 – a small spot or speck.[6]
  • 1752 – a single flower in a cluster.[6]
  • 1753 – a segment on the surface of a pineapple.[6]
  • 1838 – the verb, to beat narrowly.[6][4]
  • 1880 – the verb, to blackball.[12]
  • 1917 – a star on an officer's shoulder.[6]
  • 1924 – to pip at the post.[6]
  • 1944 – a spike or spot on a radar screen.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One of the dots or symbols on a playing card, a dice or a domino that show its value.[4][6][9]
  2. (British) A star on the shoulder of an army officer's uniform, showing rank.[6][9]
  3. A spot of light or a spike on a radar or oscilloscope screen; a blip.[4][6]
  4. A small spot or speck, especially on the skin.[4][6][9]
  5. (horticulture) A single flower of a cluster; also the rootstock of the lily of the valley.[4][6]

Verb

  1. (British, informal) To defeat narrowly, especially at the last moment: Our horse was pipped at the post.[4][6][9]
  2. (British, informal) To hit with a shot.[6][9]
  3. (British) To blackball.[4][9][12]
  4. (British, informal) To die; often pip out.[4][6]

pip3 seed of a fruit

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1773
Ultimate origin
Old French pepin

Etymology

The seed is a clipping from English pippin,[6][4][9][7][5] which first meant the seed of a fleshy fruit and later an apple grown from seed.[3][6] Pippin is from Middle English pipin, from Old French pepin (“seed or pip of a fruit”),[3][6] of uncertain origin, probably from a Romance base expressing smallness;[6][3] compare Spanish pepita (“seed, kernel”) and Italian pippolo.[3][6][9] The OED thinks the word was shortened separately for the obsolete sense "apple" in the 15th century and for the seed in the 18th.[6] Weekley thought the seed sense was influenced by pip the spot (pip2).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The seed of a fleshy fruit such as an apple or orange: the OED's first quotation is from 1773, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[6] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1797,[3][7][4] and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the late 18th century.[16]

Semantic evolution

An older pip, short for pippin as a kind of apple, is found from about 1450, in Lydgate, until 1601.[6][2][9] The seed sense dates from the late 18th century.[6][16] Like pippin, the word came to mean something excellent, a sense first recorded in American English in 1900.[6][4][12] The phrase to squeeze until the pips squeak, to make someone pay as much as they can, is recorded from 1918;[6] according to the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, the British politician Sir Eric Geddes first used it.[17]

Timeline

  • c. 1450 – an apple tree, a pippin (obsolete by 1601).[6][2]
  • 1773 – a seed of a fleshy fruit.[6] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1797.[3][7][4]
  • 1900 – something excellent (originally American).[6]
  • 1918 – squeeze until the pips squeak.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small seed of a fleshy fruit, such as an apple, pear, orange or grape: Spit the pips into the bowl.[4][18][6]
  2. (informal, chiefly US) Something or someone remarkable of its kind: That storm was a pip.[4][6][9]
  3. squeeze until the pips squeak: (British) to get the most money possible out of someone.[6][9]

Word family

  • pipless

pip4 short high sound

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1598 Florio, A Worlde of Wordes

Etymology

The short high-pitched sound is imitative.[6][4][9][16] The verb meaning to chirp, recorded from 1598, is apparently a variant of peep2 or pipe with a shortened vowel;[6] Klein and Partridge also take pip, to chirp, as a variant of the same verb.[5][19] The verb used of a chick breaking its shell is of uncertain origin, perhaps imitative.[6][9] Merriam-Webster takes both verbs as imitative.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To chirp, of a young bird: 1598, in J. Florio's dictionary A Worlde of Wordes.[6] The Shorter Oxford dates this verb to the late 16th century.[9]

Semantic evolution

From 1841 the verb was used of a chick cracking the shell of its egg when hatching, often figuratively;[6] it was used in this sense in the dialects of Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and in America.[11] In the 20th century the word was applied to electronic signals: Merriam-Webster dates the noun, a short high tone used as a signal, to 1907,[4] and the OED's first quotation, for the radio time signal, is from 1929, in the BBC's yearbook.[6] A verb pip, to toot a car horn, is recorded from 1918, and of a radio or telephone, to give out such tones, from 1938.[6] The pips are the time signal broadcast on the radio and the tones heard on a telephone line.[6][9]

Timeline

  • 1598 – the verb, to chirp.[6]
  • 1841 – the verb, of a chick, to crack the eggshell.[6]
  • 1907 – a short high-pitched tone used as a signal.[4] The OED's first quotation is from 1929.[6]
  • 1918 – the verb, to toot a horn.[6]
  • 1938 – the verb, of a radio or telephone, to give out pips.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A short, high-pitched tone used as a signal, as in a radio time signal or on a telephone line: She set her watch by the pips on the radio.[4][6][9]

Verb

  1. Of a young bird, to chirp or peep.[4][6][9]
  2. Of a hatching chick, to break through the shell of the egg; of an egg, to crack open in this way.[4][6][9]
  3. Of a radio, telephone or the like, to give out short high tones.[6][9]

Usage notes

In British signalling, pip was also an arbitrary syllable for the letter P in spoken messages, recorded from 1898 and now rare; it survives in pip emma, p.m.[6][9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ 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 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ 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 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ 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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b 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)
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  16. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  19. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Related etymologies

  • nap · also from Middle Dutch
  • tick · also from Middle Dutch
  • prop · also from Middle Dutch
  • rover · also from Middle Dutch
  • groove · also from Middle Dutch
  • mesh · also from Middle Dutch
  • slack · also from Middle Dutch
  • scum · also from Middle Dutch
Cite this entry

“Pip.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pip. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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