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sip

/sɪp/noun, verb

sip is spelled S-I-P: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sip means “A small mouthful of drink” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sip is sips.

How many letters and syllables are in sip?

Letters3: S-I-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sip?

Sip appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th 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 sip?

  • /sɪp/

Sip 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sip.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with sip

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

seep vs sip0 B

Also written: seep.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with sip?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sip.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: psi, isp.

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 sip

  • sips plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sipping participle, present
  • sipped participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sip mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A small mouthful of drink.

  2. 2

    An event at which people drink alcohol in small, usually subintoxicating amounts.

verb

  1. 1

    To drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time.

  2. 2

    To drink a small quantity.

  3. 3

    To taste the liquor of; to drink out of.

  4. 4

    ScotlandUSdatedAlternative form of seep.

  5. 5

    To consume slowly.

    Even when turned off, these devices can idly sip electricity from your outlet costing you money.

noun

as SIP
  1. 1

    Acronym of single-issue publication.

  2. 2

    Acronym of structural insulated panel.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sip in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgorgée (A small mouthful of drink), siroter (to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time)
GermanSchlückchen (A small mouthful of drink), nippen (to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time)
Portuguesegole (A small mouthful of drink), bebericar, sorver (to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time)
Spanishsorbo (A small mouthful of drink), sorber, libar (to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time)

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 sip come from?

Inherited from Middle English sippen, of uncertain origin. Compare with Low German sippen (“to sip”). Possibly from a variant of Middle English suppen (“to drink, sip”) (see sup) or perhaps from Old English sipian, sypian (“to take in moisture, soak, macerate”), from Proto-Germanic *sipōną (“to drip, trickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out, trickle, leak out”). Compare also Old High German supfen (“to drink, sip”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (“to sip, intake”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sip