# stoop

> English word · Noun · IPA /stuːp/ · frequency rank #24,326

## Definitions
1. A stooping, bent position of the body.
2. An accelerated descent in flight, as that for an attack.

## Etymology
From Middle English stoupen, from Old English stūpian (“to bow, bend”), from Proto-West Germanic *stūpōn, from Proto-Germanic *stūpōną, *stūpijaną (“to stand out”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, butt, knock”). Compare steep. Cognate with Dutch stuipen (“to bend the upper part of the body forward and downward”), Old Norse stúpa (“to stoop”). Related also to Old Frisian stēpa (“to help”), Old Norse steypa (“to cause to stoop, cast down, overthrow”).

## Easily confused with
- **STP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stp)
- **stop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stop)
- **stow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stow)
- **story** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-story)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-store)
- **storm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-storm)
- **stops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stops)
- **strip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-strip)
- **strap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-strap)
- **stove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stove)
- **stout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stout)
- **stump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stump)
- **swoop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-swoop)
- **Stowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stowe)
- **stork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stork)
- **swoon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-swoon)
- **strep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-strep)
- **stooped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stoop-vs-stooped)
- **sop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sop-vs-stoop)
- **soon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/soon-vs-stoop)

## Common misspellings (6)
`sotop`, `sstoop`, `stoopp`, `stopo`, `sttoop`, `tsoop`

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