# jump

> English word · Verb · IPA /d͡ʒʌmp/ · frequency rank #2,078

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

## Easily confused with
- **jun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jun)
- **jus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jus)
- **just** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-just)
- **June** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-june)
- **jury** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jury)
- **junk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-junk)
- **Jung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jung)
- **Juno** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-juno)
- **juve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-juve)
- **jute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jute)
- **Jura** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jura)
- **jumps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jumps)
- **jumpy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jumpy)
- **jumped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jumped)
- **jumper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jump-vs-jumper)
- **Ju** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ju-vs-jump)
- **Jim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jim-vs-jump)
- **jam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jam-vs-jump)
- **jug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jug-vs-jump)
- **Jap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jap-vs-jump)

## Common misspellings (6)
`jjump`, `jmup`, `jummp`, `jumpp`, `jupm`, `ujmp`

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