# top

> English word · Noun · IPA /tɒp/ · frequency rank #244

## Definitions
1. The highest or uppermost part of something.
2. The highest or uppermost part of something.
3. The highest or uppermost part of something.
4. The highest or uppermost part of something.
5. The highest or uppermost part of something.
6. The highest or uppermost part of something.
7. The highest or uppermost part of something.
8. The highest or uppermost part of something.
9. The near end of somewhere.
10. A child's spinning toy; a spinning top.
11. Someone who is eminent.
12. Someone who is eminent.
13. A peak price of a security during a trading period, before it begins a downward trend.
14. A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay.
15. A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay.
16. A person who penetrates or has a preference for penetrating during intercourse.
17. Fellatio; a blowjob.
18. A top quark.
19. The utmost degree; the acme; the summit.
20. A plug or conical block of wood with longitudinal grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
21. Highest pitch or loudest volume.
22. A bundle or ball of slivers of combed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out.
23. Eve; verge; point.
24. The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface.
25. Topboots.
26. A stroke on the top of the ball.
27. A forward spin given to the ball by hitting it on or near the top; topspin.
28. (A table at which there is, or which has enough seats for) a group of a specified number of people eating at a restaurant.
29. Ellipsis of topswarm.
30. The First Sergeant or Master Sergeant (U.S. Marine Corps), senior enlisted man at company level.
31. a shoot (eaten as a vegetable).

## Etymology
From Middle English top, toppe, from Old English topp (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *topp, from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare typologically Latin apex (<< Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“to join, attach, fasten, fit”)).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Top (“top”), Cimbrian sòpf (“braid”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), German Topp (“top of a mast”), Zopf (“braid, pigtail, plait, top”), Luxembourgish Zapp (“plait, tress”), Vilamovian cöp (“braid, plait”), Yiddish צאָפּ (tsop, “braid”), Danish top (“top”), Icelandic toppur (“top”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish topp (“top, peak, summit, tip”), Italian zuffa (“brawl”).
The sense of a spinning toy is separated from this, obscurely related to Dutch top and dop in this sense, against Standard Dutch tol, and French toupie having this sense.

## Easily confused with
- **TV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tv)
- **TX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tx)
- **Tu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tu)
- **Ty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-ty)
- **TS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-ts)
- **TT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tt)
- **tp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tp)
- **two** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-two)
- **try** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-try)
- **toy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-toy)
- **tub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tub)
- **tow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tow)
- **tri** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tri)
- **tor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tor)
- **tug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tug)
- **TSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tsa)
- **TOS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tos)
- **Tue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tue)
- **tot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tot)
- **tre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/top-vs-tre)

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