# loop

> English word · Noun · IPA /luːp/ · frequency rank #4,393

## Definitions
1. A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.
2. The opening so formed.
3. A shape produced by a curve that bends around and crosses itself.
4. A ring road or beltway.
5. An endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition.
6. A complete circuit for an electric current.
7. A programmed sequence of instructions that is repeated until or while a particular condition is satisfied.
8. An edge that begins and ends on the same vertex.
9. A path that starts and ends at the same point.
10. A bus or rail route, walking route, etc. that starts and ends at the same point.
11. A place at a terminus where trains or trams can turn round and go back the other way without having to reverse; a balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop.
12. A passing loop.
13. A quasigroup with an identity element.
14. A loop-shaped intrauterine device.
15. An aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft flies a circular path in a vertical plane.
16. A small, narrow opening; a loophole.
17. Alternative form of loup (“mass of iron”).
18. A flexible region in a protein's secondary structure.
19. A sports league
20. The curved path of the ball bowled by a spin bowler.

## Etymology
From Middle English loupe (“noose, loop”), earlier lowp-knot (“loop-knot”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlaup (“a run”), used in the sense of a "running knot", from hlaupa (“to leap”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”). Compare Swedish löp-knut (“loop-knot”), Danish løb-knude (“a running knot”), Danish løb (“a course”). More at leap. The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **LP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lp)
- **lot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lot)
- **low** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-low)
- **los** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-los)
- **Lou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lou)
- **Luo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-luo)
- **lor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lor)
- **lop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lop)
- **lox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lox)
- **loy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-loy)
- **love** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-love)
- **lost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lost)
- **lord** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lord)
- **lose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lose)
- **loss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-loss)
- **lots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lots)
- **loud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-loud)
- **Lyon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lyon)
- **lump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lump)
- **lowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loop-vs-lowe)

## Common misspellings (4)
`lloop`, `loopp`, `lopo`, `olop`

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