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trip

/tɹɪp/noun, verb, adjective

trip is spelled T-R-I-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 79 times per million words in written English, the 1,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, trip means “A journey; an excursion or jaunt” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of trip is trips.

How many letters and syllables are in trip?

Letters4: T-R-I-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing79 times per million words; the 1,338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is trip?

Trip appears 79 times per million words in written English, the 1,338th 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 trip?

  • US /tɹɪp/
  • US [tʰɹɪp]
  • US [t͡ʃɹɪp]

Trip 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-us-trip.ogg, En-uk-a_trip.ogg, En-au-tip.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with trip?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as trip from its last stressed vowel (/ɪp/):

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 trip

  • trips plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tripping participle, present
  • tripped participle, past

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

What does trip mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A journey; an excursion or jaunt.

    beach trip, camping trip, fishing trip, school trip, shopping trip

  2. 2

    A short outing for a specified purpose.

    He went on a trip to the drug store.

  3. 3

    colloquialA period of time in which one experiences drug-induced reverie or hallucinations.

    He had a strange trip after taking LSD.

  4. 4

    An unusual or remarkable experience.

    I had a weird experience, it was quite the trip.

  5. 5

    Intense involvement in or enjoyment of a condition.

    ego trip

  6. 6

    A lifestyle; a preoccupation.

    His whole celebrity trip made it hard to relate to him.

  7. 7

    A stumble or misstep.

    He was injured due to a trip down the stairs.

  8. 8

    The act of tripping someone, or causing them to lose their footing; a wrestling move in which an opponent is tripped.

  9. 9

    ScotlandUKobsoleteA herd or flock of sheep, goats, etc.

  10. 10

    obsoleteA troop of men; a host.

  11. 11

    A flock of wigeons.

verb

  1. 1

    To fall over or stumble over an object as a result of striking it with one's foot

    Be careful not to trip on those tree roots. You tripped over the cat and fell downstairs just last week.

  2. 2

    To cause (a person or animal) to fall or stumble by knocking their feet from under them.

    A pedestrian was able to trip the burglar as he was running away.

  3. 3

    To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict.

  5. 5

    To activate or set in motion, as in the activation of a trap, explosive, or switch.

    When we get into the factory, trip the lights.

  6. 6

    To be activated, as by a signal or an event

    The alarm system tripped, throwing everyone into a panic.

  7. 7

    Of an electrical circuit, to trip out (through overload, a short circuit).

  8. 8

    To experience a state of reverie or to hallucinate, due to consuming psychoactive drugs.

    After taking the LSD, I started tripping about fairies and colors.

adjective

  1. 1

    slangOf or relating to trips (three of a kind).

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

Trip in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvoyage, balade, tour (journey), faux pas (stumble or misstep), trip (period of time in which one experiences…), trébucher (to fall over or stumble over an object)
GermanReise, Fahrt, Ausflug (journey), Abflug (stumble or misstep), Trip (period of time in which one experiences…), Fehlgriff (error; failure; mistake)
Portugueseviagem (journey), tropeço (stumble or misstep), moca, mocada, pedrada (period of time in which one experiences…), tropeçar (to fall over or stumble over an object)
Spanishviaje, saltito, viajata, recorrido, trayecto, singladura (journey)

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 trip come from?

From Middle English trippen (“tread or step lightly and nimbly, skip, dance”), perhaps from Old French triper (“to hop or dance around, strike with the feet”), from a Frankish source; or alternatively from Middle Dutch trippen (“to skip, trip, hop, stamp, trample”) (> Modern Dutch trippelen (“to toddle, patter, trip”)). Akin to Middle Low German trippen ( > Danish trippe (“to trip”), Swedish trippa (“to mince, trip”)), West Frisian tripje (“to toddle, trip”), German trippeln (“to scurry”), Old English treppan (“to trample, tread”). Related also to trap, tramp.

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

What to look up after trip