# kipper

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkɪpə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #65,237

## Definitions
1. A split, salted and smoked herring or salmon.
2. A male salmon after spawning.
3. A patrol to protect fishing boats in the Irish and North Seas against attack from the air.
4. A torpedo.
5. An Englishman who has moved to Australia.
6. A young Aboriginal man who has been initiated into to the rights of manhood.
7. A fool.
8. A child or young person.
9. The vagina.

## Etymology
From Old English cypera (“male salmon”), perhaps related to Old English coper (“reddish-brown metal”) (see copper), on resemblance of color. Another theory connects it to kip (“sharp, hooked lower jaw of the male salmon in breeding season”), from Middle English kippen (“to seize, snatch”), but OED doubts this.

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