Etymologically
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pipe

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 05:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpaɪp/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English pīpe (“musical pipe; tube”),[2][3][4][5] an early West Germanic borrowing, like Old Frisian pīpe, Old High German pfīfa and Dutch pijp,[2][4] of Vulgar Latin *pīpa (“pipe”), a back-formation from Latin pīpāre (“to chirp, peep”), of imitative origin.[2][3][6] It was reinforced in Middle English by pipe.[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A simple tubular wind instrument: before 1000 in Barnhart and the OED.[2][8] Old English also used it for a tube carrying water.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline says all the tube senses come from small reed, whistle.[3] A water pipe or conduit is from about 1250 in Barnhart,[2] a duct of the body from the late 14th century, and an organ pipe from the mid-15th century.[3][8] The pipe for smoking tobacco is first recorded in 1594, as pipe of tobacco;[2][3][6] the voice, especially in singing, is from the 1570s.[3] The verb, to whistle or peep, is from about 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale,[2] to play on a pipe from Old English pīpian,[3][4] and to convey through pipes by 1887.[3] Piping hot is in Chaucer, from the hissing of hot food.[3] Put that in your pipe and smoke it is a later phrase.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1000 – a musical pipe.[2][8]
  • c. 1250 – a water pipe; to whistle.[2]
  • late 14th century – a duct of the body.[3]
  • 1594 – a tobacco pipe.[2]
  • 1887 – to convey through pipes.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A tube of metal, plastic or other material for carrying water, gas or oil.
  2. A device for smoking tobacco, a tube with a small bowl at one end.
  3. A simple wind instrument, or, as the pipes, the bagpipes.
  4. Any of the tubes of an organ.

Verb

  1. To carry by pipe; to transmit sound or signals by wire: piped music.
  2. To play a tune on a pipe, or make a shrill sound.
  3. To decorate with piping, as with icing or trimming.

Word family

  • pipeful
  • pipeless
  • pipelike
  • piper
  • pipe down
  • pipe up
  • piping
  • bagpipe
  • pipeline
  • pipette
  • fife

Usage notes

A second pipe, a large cask for wine holding two hogsheads, is from Old French pipe, from the same Vulgar Latin word (early 14th century).[2][3][9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press