sip

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sippen, of uncertain origin.^[2][3][4][5] The OED and others take it as perhaps a modification of sup, made to express a lighter, less vigorous action;^{[4][6][7][8][9]} the MED also allows a link with Old English sypian (“to absorb, drink in”) if the first vowel was short,^[5] and Klein and Skeat relate it to that verb, which is related by ablaut to sūpan (“to sip, drink”).^[10][11][3] Barnhart thinks it is probably cognate with Low German sippen (“to sip”),^[2] which Collins and Hoad consider a possible source,^[12][8] and Klein also compares Middle Dutch sippen.^[10] The OED notes that Kilian's Flemish sippen is doubtful, but that the Low German verb, given in the “Bremisches Wörterbuch”, seems genuine.^[4] Barnhart rejects a link with Middle English sipen (“to leak”), the source of seep.^[2] The noun is formed from the verb.^[4][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To drink in small mouthfuls: about 1386, in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Prologue,^[4][2][5] the word's only use in Chaucer.^[13] Etymonline notes that it sometimes glossed Latin potissō and subbibō.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb was first intransitive; the transitive use, to drink a liquid in small draughts, is recorded from about 1600 in Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first record is from 1611, in Cotgrave.^[4] Figurative uses, to take a mere taste of something, follow from 1602 and 1619.^[4] In Dryden's Virgil (1697) bees were said to sip the honey of flowers.^[4] The noun is dated to 1633 by the OED,^[4] to before 1500 by Barnhart^[2] and to the late 15th century by the Shorter Oxford;^[6] its figurative sense, a mere taste, is from 1728.^[4][3] In Scotland sip could mean to eat broth or porridge with a spoon.^[14] Slang has a sip for a kiss (1909),^[15] and a backslang sip for piss.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – intransitive, to drink in small mouthfuls.^[4]
• before 1500 – noun, a small drink.^[2]
• 1602 – figurative use.^[4]
• 1611 – transitive, to drink something in small draughts.^[4]
• 1633 – noun, an act of sipping (OED).^[4]
• 1697 – of bees, to take honey from a flower.^[4]
• 1728 – noun, figurative, a mere taste.^[4][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drink a liquid a little at a time, taking small mouthfuls: He sipped his coffee while reading the news.^[12][16][4]
2. To take a slight taste of something, figuratively.^[4][16]

Noun

1. A small amount of a liquid taken into the mouth: a sip of water.^[12][16][4]
2. An act of sipping.^[12][16][4]

Word family

• sipper
• sippingly
• unsipped

Related words

• sup
• sop
• soup
• seep
• sippet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster