top

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɒp/ (UK); /tɑːp/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English top, inherited from Old English top (“summit, crest; tuft of hair”),^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (Hoad: *toppaz),^[2][4] of unknown origin.^[5] Its cognates are Old Frisian topp (“tuft”), Dutch top (“summit, crest”), Old High German zopf (“summit, tuft”) (modern German Zopf (“pigtail, plait”)) and Old Norse toppr (“tuft of hair”).^[2][6] Etymonline finds no certain relatives outside Germanic except Romance words borrowed from it, among them Old French top (“tuft, forelock”), source of toupee;^[3] Merriam-Webster suggests a link with Old English tæppa (tap).^[7] The spinning toy called a top is also late Old English (about 1060), probably a special use of the same word,^[2][3] though the Shorter Oxford and Hoad call its origin unknown.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The highest point or part of something (about 1000, in Ælfric's Grammar); in Old English also a tuft or crest.^[5][8][3]

Semantic evolution

Weekley thought the sense “tuft of hair” might be the oldest, and the OED records top for the hair on the crown of the head from about 1205.^[9][8] Etymonline notes that few Indo-European languages have such a general word for any upper part or surface.^[3] Later uses include the platform at the head of a ship's mast (15th century),^[4] the leaves of a root crop (late 14th century),^[3] the highest position (1620s) and the best part of something (1660s).^[3] The adjective is recorded from 1593 in Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI and meant “first in rank” by the 1640s.^[5][3] The verb first meant “to cut the top off” (before 1300); “to put a top on” is from 1581 and “to surpass” from 1582.^[2] In criminal slang to top meant “to hang” from 1718.^[10][11] Over the top comes from the First World War, when troops climbed over the parapet of a trench to attack, and later came to mean “excessive”, shortened to OTT in the early 1980s.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English top, the highest part.^[2][8]
• c. 1060 – a spinning toy.^[2][8]
• c. 1205 – the hair on the crown of the head.^[8]
• before 1300 – verb, to cut off the top.^[2]
• 1581 – verb, to put a top on.^[2]
• 1582 – verb, to surpass.^[2]
• 1593 – adjective, uppermost.^[5]
• 1620s – the highest position or rank.^[3]
• 1718 – (slang) to execute by hanging.^[10]
• 1843 – top of the morning.^[3]
• 1942 – top dollar.^[3]
• 1945 – top ten in popular music.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The highest or uppermost point, part or surface.
2. A lid, cap or cover.
3. A garment for the upper part of the body.
4. The highest rank or position: at the top of the class.
5. The highest degree: at the top of her voice.
6. The leaves and stems of a plant grown for its root.
7. A platform at the head of a ship's mast.
8. A toy that spins on a point.

Adjective

1. At or forming the top; highest.
2. Highest in rank, degree or quality: top marks.

Verb

1. To provide with a top or cover.
2. To be more than; to exceed or surpass.
3. To be first in: topped the charts.
4. To cut off the top of (a plant).
5. (British slang) To kill.

Word family

• topped
• untopped
• topcoat
• top-end
• top-level
• topmost
• top-shelf
• topsoil

Related words

• tip
• toupee
• tap
• topple

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 Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Flavell, Linda; Flavell, Roger (1992), Dictionary of Idioms and their Origins, London: Kyle Cathie