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PlainSpell

entrap

/ɪnˈtɹæp/verb

entrap is a verb meaning “To catch in a trap or snare” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled E-N-T-R-A-P and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does entrap mean?

verb

  1. 1

    To catch in a trap or snare.

  2. 2

    To lure (someone), either into a dangerous situation, or into performing an illegal act.

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

How do you pronounce entrap?

  • /ɪnˈtɹæp/

Entrap has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

Forms of entrap

  • entraps present, singular, he/she/it
  • entrapping participle, present
  • entrapped participle, past

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

How common is entrap?

Entrap appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 64,400th 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).

Entrap in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Spanishentrampar, entrampillar (catch something in a trap)
Germanverstricken, verleiten (lure someone)

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 entrap come from?

From Middle French entrapper, entraper, from Old French entraper, antraper (“catch in a trap”), equivalent to en- + trap. Compare Middle English bitrappen, from Old English betræppan (“to catch in a trap, entrap”), from the same West Germanic source (see Modern English betrap).

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