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drip

/ˈdɹɪp/verb, noun

drip is spelled D-R-I-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, drip means “To fall one drop at a time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in drip?

Letters4: D-R-I-P
Syllables1
In writing3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is drip?

Drip appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce drip?

  • /ˈdɹɪp/
  • [ˈd̠ɹ̠̈˔ɪp]

Drip has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-drip.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of drip

  • drips present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • dripping participle, present
  • dripped participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does drip mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To fall one drop at a time.

    Listening to the tap next door drip all night drove me mad!

  2. 2

    To leak slowly.

    Does the sink drip, or have I just spilt water over the floor?

  3. 3

    To let fall in drops.

    After putting oil on the side of the salad, the chef should drip a little vinegar in the oil.

  4. 4

    To have a superabundance of (something).

    The Old Hall simply drips with masterpieces of the Flemish painters.

  5. 5

    To rain lightly; to drizzle.

    The weather isn't so bad. I mean, it's dripping, but you're not going to get so wet.

  6. 6

    To be wet, to be soaked.

  7. 7

    UKslangTo whine or complain consistently; to grumble.

  8. 8

    slangBe impressive or attractive.

noun

  1. 1

    A drop of a liquid.

    I put a drip of vanilla extract in my hot cocoa.

  2. 2

    A falling or letting fall in drops; act of dripping.

  3. 3

    An apparatus that slowly releases a liquid, especially one that intravenously releases drugs into a patient's bloodstream.

    He's not doing so well. The doctors have put him on a drip.

  4. 4

    colloquialderogatoryA limp, ineffectual, or uninteresting person.

    He couldn't even summon up the courage to ask her name... what a drip!

  5. 5

    That part of a cornice, sill course, or other horizontal member that projects beyond the rest, and has a section designed to throw off rainwater.

  6. 6

    slangStyle; swagger; fashionable and/or expensive clothing.

    His drip is looking fine, especially the Supreme t-shirt.

  7. 7

    Alternative letter-case form of DRIP (“dividend reinvestment plan”)

noun

as DRIP
  1. 1

    Acronym of dividend reinvestment plan or dividend reinvestment program.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Drip in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgoutter, goutteler, tomber goutte à goutte (to fall one drop at a time), suinter (to leak slowly), ruisseler, déborder (to have a superabundance of valuable things)
Germantropfen (to fall one drop at a time), lecken (to leak slowly), nieseln (to rain lightly), Einfaltspinsel (an ineffectual or uninteresting person), Tropf (an apparatus that slowly releases a liquid)
Portuguesepingar, gotejar (to fall one drop at a time), vazar (to leak slowly), chato (an ineffectual or uninteresting person), bolsa (an apparatus that slowly releases a liquid)
Spanishgotear, pintear (to fall one drop at a time), escurrir (to leak slowly), desbordar (to have a superabundance of valuable things), aburro (an ineffectual or uninteresting person), instilar (to let fall in drops)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does drip come from?

From Middle English drippen, druppen, from Old English drypan, from Proto-Germanic *drupjaną (“to fall in drops, drip”), from Proto-Germanic *drupô (“drop”). Akin to West Frisian drippe (“to drip”), Dutch druipen, druppelen (“to drip”), German Low German drüppen (“to drip”), German tropfen, tröpfeln (“to drip”), Norwegian Bokmål dryppe, Norwegian Nynorsk drypa (“to drip”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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