skip
/skɪp/verb, noun
skip is spelled S-K-I-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Skip, the name). As a verb, skip means “To move by hopping on alternate feet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in skip?
| Letters | 4: S-K-I-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is skip?
Skip appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Skip, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce skip?
- /skɪp/
Skip 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-skip.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with skip
Also written: hop, skip and jump.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of skip
- skips present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- skipping participle, present
- skipped participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
- skippy
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does skip mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To move by hopping on alternate feet.
She will skip from one end of the sidewalk to the other.
- 2
To leap about lightly.
- 3
To skim, ricochet or bounce over a surface.
The rock will skip across the pond.
- 4
To throw (something), making it skim, ricochet, or bounce over a surface.
I bet I can skip this rock to the other side of the pond.
- 5
To disregard, miss or omit part of a continuation (some item or stage).
My heart will skip a beat.
- 6
informalNot to attend (some event, especially a class or a meeting).
Yeah, I really should go to the quarterly meeting but I think I'm going to skip it.
- 7
informalTo leave, especially in a sudden and covert manner.
to skip the country
- 8
To leap lightly over.
to skip the rope
- 9
To place (an item) in a skip (large container for waste).
- 10
To act as skipper, or captain, of a team.
noun
- 1
A leaping or jumping movement; the action of one who skips.
- 2
The act of passing over an interval from one thing to another; an omission of a part.
- 3
A trick allowing the player to proceed to a later section of the game without playing through a section that was intended to be mandatory.
- 4
A passage from one sound to another by more than a degree at once.
- 5
A person who attempts to disappear so as not to be found.
- 6
skywave propagation
- 7
informalA song, typically one on an album, that is not worth listening to.
- 8
CommonwealthIrelandUKA large container for waste, designed to be lifted onto the back of a truck to remove it along with its contents, or to be picked up by hydraulic arms so that its contents can be dumped into the truck.
- 9
A transportation container in a mine, usually for ore or mullock.
- 10
A skip car.
- 11
ScotlandUKA skep, or basket, such as a creel or a handbasket.
- 12
A wheeled basket chiefly used in textile factories.
- 13
A charge of syrup in the pans.
- 14
A beehive made of woven straw, wicker, etc.
- 15
informalShort for skipper, especially as (nautical) the master of a ship; (sports) a team captain; (UK, law enforcement) a detective sergeant; or any other person with similar moderate authority.
- 16
The player who calls the shots and traditionally throws the last two rocks.
- 17
The captain of a bowls team, who directs the team's tactics and rolls the side's last wood, so as to be able to retrieve a difficult situation if necessary.
- 18
informalThe scoutmaster of a troop of scouts (youth organization).
- 19
AustraliaslangAn Australian of Anglo-Celtic descent.
- 20
A college servant.
- 21
slangA skip-level manager; the boss of one's boss.
My skip is helpful when my team lead is being uptight.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate skip?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of skip: sk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Skip in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sautiller , sauter , manquer , benne |
| German | hüpfen , springen, tänzeln, herumspringen, herumhüpfen , Hüpfer |
| Portuguese | saltitar , pular , faltar, matar , caçamba, caçamba de entulho |
| Spanish | saltar , saltear, soslayar , saltarse |
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 skip come from?
From Middle English skippen, skyppen, of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skupjaną, perhaps related to *skeubaną (“to drive, push”), iterative *skuppōną (“to push/move repeatedly, skip”), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ- (“to push, throw, shake”). Related to Icelandic skopa (“to take a run”), Old Swedish skuppa (“to skip”), modern dialectal Swedish skopa, skimpa (“to skip, leap”), and English shove. See also dialectal English skimp (“to mock”) (Etymology 1), considered by some to be related.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).