nip
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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3 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "nip", 3-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 "nip" 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 "nip" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
nip is aEnglishverb. It 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. Pronounced /nɪp/. Often confused with NJ and nm.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nip |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /nɪp/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,149 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nip is 3 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /nɪp/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,149 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for nip in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NJ", "nm", "NZ", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 Germani… 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 nip, spelled N-I-P, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
- 2To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
- 3To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.
- 4To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
- 5To annoy, as by nipping.
- 6To taunt.
- 7To squeeze or pinch.
- 8To steal; especially to cut a purse.
- 9To affect [one] painfully; to cause physical pain.'
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #19,149 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter N in our English index: