nip
/nɪp/verb, noun
nip is spelled N-I-P: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, nip means “To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in nip?
| Letters | 3: N-I-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 19,077th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is nip?
Nip appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce nip?
- /nɪp/
Nip has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-nip.ogg, En-au-Nip.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with nip?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as nip.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: pin.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of nip
- nips present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- nipping participle, present
- nipped participle, past
- gnip
- knip
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nip mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
- 2
To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
- 3
To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.
- 4
To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
- 5
To annoy, as by nipping.
- 6
To taunt.
- 7
ScotlandTo squeeze or pinch.
- 8
UKobsoleteTo steal; especially to cut a purse.
- 9
slangvulgarTo have erect nipples.
- 10
informalTo make a quick, short journey or errand, usually a round trip.
Why don’t you nip down to the grocer’s for some milk?
noun
- 1
A playful bite.
The puppy gave his owner’s finger a nip.
- 2
A pinch with the nails or teeth.
- 3
Briskly cold weather.
There is a nip in the air. It is nippy outside.
- 4
A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching
the nip of masses of ice
- 5
A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
- 6
A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.
- 7
A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
- 8
A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
- 9
A small amount of food or drink, (particularly) a small amount of liquor.
I’ll just take a nip of that cake.
- 10
slangvulgarA nipple, usually of a woman.
Did you manage to sneak a peek at her nips, bro?
- 11
A hamburger.
- 12
datedoffensiveslangAlternative spelling of Nip; a Japanese person.
noun
- 1
datedoffensiveslangA Japanese person.
adjective
- 1
datedoffensiveslangJapanese.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of non-native invasive plant.
- 2
UKAbbreviation of notice of intended prosecution.
adjective
- 1
Abbreviation of new in package.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nip in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does nip come from?
From late Middle English nippen, probably of Low German or Dutch origin, probably a byform of earlier *knippen (suggested by the derivative Middle English knippette (“pincers”)), from Middle Low German knîpen, from Old Saxon *knīpan, from Proto-West Germanic *knīpan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *knīpaną (“to pinch”). Related to Dutch nijpen, knijpen (“to pinch”), Danish nive (“pinch”); Swedish nypa (“pinch”); Low German knipen; German kneipen and kneifen (“to pinch, cut off, nip”), Old Norse hnippa (“to prod, poke”); Lithuanian knebti.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).