tape

Pronunciation

• IPA: /teɪp/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tape, tappe, inherited from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“narrow strip of cloth”),^[2][3][4] a word of uncertain origin.^[2][5] It is probably related to Old Frisian tapia and Middle Low German tapen “to pull, pluck, tear”,^[3][4][6] while Klein suggested a back-formation from Latin tapēte “cloth, carpet”.^[2] The lengthening of the vowel in Middle English is unexplained, perhaps by mistaken analogy with taper.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A narrow woven strip of linen or cotton used for tying or measuring: about 1000 in the OED and Barnhart, in Ælfric.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

A tape stretched across the finish of a race is from 1867.^[2][7] A thin flexible strip of metal for measuring, and the paper ribbon of a telegraph receiver (ticker tape), are from 1884,^[7][3] adhesive tape from 1885,^[2] and tape measure from 1873.^[2][3] Magnetic tape for recording sound is from 1932,^[7][3] and a recording on tape from about 1946.^[7] The verb, to furnish with tape, is from 1609 (about 1600 in Etymonline),^[3][4][2] to fasten with adhesive tape from 1932, and to make a tape recording by 1950.^[2][3] In army slang a tape is an NCO's chevron, from 1943.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – a strip of cloth.^[7][3]
• 1609 – verb, to furnish with tape.^[3]
• 1867 – the finishing tape.^[2][7]
• 1884 – ticker tape.^[7][3]
• 1932 – magnetic tape.^[7][3]
• 1950 – to tape-record.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long narrow strip of plastic with a sticky side, used to fasten things.
2. A narrow strip of strong cloth, used in sewing or tying.
3. Magnetic tape, or a cassette or recording made on it.
4. A tape measure.
5. A string stretched across the finishing line of a race.

Verb

1. To record sounds or pictures on tape.
2. To fasten or wrap something with tape.

Word family

• tapeable
• tapeless
• tapelike

Related words

• taper

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press