# gape

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈɡeɪp/ · frequency rank #50,530

## Definitions
1. To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
2. To stare in wonder.
3. To open wide; to display a gap.
4. To open the passage to the vomeronasal organ, analogous to the flehming in other animals.
5. To depict a dilated anal or vaginal cavity upon penetrative sexual activity.

## Etymology
From Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa (“to gape”) (compare Swedish gapa, Danish gabe), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną (descendants Middle English geapen, Dutch gapen, German gaffen), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰеh₂b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа (zjapa). Doublet of gap.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/gape