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jump

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "jump", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "jump" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "jump" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

jump is aEnglishverb. It means: To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne. Pronounced /d͡ʒʌmp/. It ranks #2,078 in English word frequency. Often confused with jun and jus.

Key facts for jump
PropertyValue
Headwordjump
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/d͡ʒʌmp/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,078
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of jump in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for jump is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /d͡ʒʌmp/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,078 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 26 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for jump, with forms such as "jjump", "jmup", and "jummp". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "jun", "jus", "just", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is jump, spelled J-U-M-P, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne.
  2. 2
    To cause oneself to leave an elevated location and fall downward.
  3. 3
    To pass by means of a spring or leap; to overleap.
  4. 4
    To employ a parachute to leave an aircraft or elevated location.
  5. 5
    To react to a sudden, often unexpected, stimulus (such as a sharp prick or a loud sound) by jerking the body violently.
  6. 6
    To increase sharply, to rise, to shoot up.
  7. 7
    To employ a move in certain board games where one game piece is moved from one legal position to another passing over the position of another piece.
  8. 8
    To move to a position (in a queue/line) that is further forward.
  9. 9
    To pass (a traffic light) when it is indicating that one should stop.
  10. 10
    To attack suddenly and violently.
  11. 11
    To engage in sexual intercourse with (a person).
  12. 12
    To cause to jump.
  13. 13
    To move the distance between two opposing subjects.
  14. 14
    To increase the height of a tower crane by inserting a section at the base of the tower and jacking up everything above it.
  15. 15
    To increase speed aggressively and without warning.
  16. 16
    To expose to danger; to risk; to hazard.
  17. 17
    To join by a buttweld.
  18. 18
    To thicken or enlarge by endwise blows; to upset.
  19. 19
    To bore with a jumper.
  20. 20
    To jump-start a car or other vehicle with a dead battery, as with jumper cables.
  21. 21
    To coincide; to agree; to accord; to tally; followed by with.
  22. 22
    To start executing code from a different location, rather than following the program counter.
  23. 23
    To flee; to make one's escape.
  24. 24
    To shift one's position or attitude, especially suddenly and significantly.
  25. 25
    To switch locations on chromosomes.
  26. 26
    To commit suicide.

Etymology

From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely. Cognates Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: jjump,jmup,jummp,jumpp,jupm,ujmp

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for jump

Misspelling Variants of "jump"

jjump5jmup4jummp5jumpp5jupm4ujmp4
Misspelling Variants of "jump"

Frequency rank: #2,078 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "jump"?
"jump" is spelled J-U-M-P. The IPA pronunciation is /d͡ʒʌmp/.
What does "jump" mean?
As a verb, "jump" means: To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne.
What words are commonly confused with "jump"?
"jump" is commonly confused with "jun", "jus", "just". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "jump"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "jump" is /d͡ʒʌmp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "jump"?
From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter J in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.