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reap

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repen, also ripen,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English rīpan, with the forms reopan (Mercian) and repan.[5][6][7][8][2] Its further origin is uncertain: the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Hoad call it of unknown origin with no certain cognates,[9][10][8] and Cresswell notes that it has no matching words in the related languages.[11] Orel reconstructs Proto-Germanic *rīpaną, perhaps a variant of *rīfaną,[12] and Barnhart, Klein and Collins compare Middle Low German repen (“to ripple flax”), Middle Dutch repen (“to tear, comb flax”) and Norwegian ripe (“to scratch”).[6][4][13] Etymonline, Klein and Weekley relate it to ripe,[5][4][14] which Ayto says some have linked with it as if "ready for harvesting".[15] The OED thinks it probably comes ultimately from the same Indo-European base as rive, though the relationship is hard to explain,[16] and Orel, Köbler and Ayto refer it to Proto-Indo-European *rei- (“to tear, scratch”).[12][17][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cut and gather grain, originally with a sickle or scythe: in Old English, first in the Vespasian Psalter,[16] where Barnhart dates the Mercian form reopan to before 830.[6] The OED notes that it was often used figuratively from the start.[16]

Semantic evolution

The figurative use, "to gather the fruit of one's work", is as old as the word in English, because of its biblical language.[5][16] Two biblical sayings became proverbs: to reap where one has not sown, from Matthew 25, and to reap what one sows, from Galatians 6:7, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".[16][11] Barnhart dates the Middle English form repen to about 1175, already meaning "to cut grain, gather, obtain".[6] The general sense of obtaining a benefit as a reward or result is recorded from before 1350,[16] and the reaping machine by 1762.[5] Johnson (1755) gave the word as "to cut corn at harvest".[18] In dialect the past tense rope and forms such as rip and rep long survived.[8][19] In judo, reap translates the Japanese name of a leg sweep that unbalances an opponent: as a verb from 1950, and as a noun from 1968.[16][9] American campus slang of 2014 uses it for success in attracting people.[20]

Timeline

  • before 830 – reopan, to reap.[6][16]
  • c. 1175 – Middle English repen, to cut grain, gather, obtain.[6]
  • before 1350 – to obtain as a reward or result.[16]
  • 1547 – to cut flowers or plants as if reaping (now rare).[16]
  • 1762 – reaping-machine.[5]
  • 1950 – judo, to sweep an opponent's leg.[16]
  • 1968 – noun, a reaping throw in judo.[16]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cut and gather a crop, especially grain, with a sickle, scythe or machine: The farmers reaped the barley in August.[13][3][16]
  2. To clear a field of its crop by cutting it.[3][16]
  3. To gain or obtain something as the result of one's own actions: She reaped the benefits of years of practice.[13][3][16]
  4. reap what one sows: to suffer the consequences of one's actions.[16][11]
  5. (judo) To sweep a leg against an opponent's leg so that they lose balance.[16][9]

Noun

  1. (judo) A sweep of the leg against an opponent's leg.[16][9]
  2. (dialect) A handful or loose sheaf of grain.[3][16][9]

Word family

  • reapable
  • reaphook
  • unreaped
  • reaper

Usage notes

The dialect verb reap (also reap up), to rake up an old grievance, recorded from 1578, is apparently an alteration of rip, influenced by the forms of reap that sounded like it.[16][9][3]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  19. ^ 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)
  20. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com