English
gap
Gap comes from Old Norse gap ‘chasm’, presumably from gapa ‘to gape’, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- ‘to gape’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₂-1‘to open wide, gape’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gapōną1‘to gape’uncertain
- Old Norsec. 800–1350gapa1‘to gape, scream’uncertain
- Old Norsec. 800–1350gap1‘an empty space, chasm’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gap1‘gap, opening’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007gap1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English gap
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2007, 2006, Jeanne C. Stein: “The robe gaps open at the waist, breasts spilling…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₂-Wiktionary, English gap‘to open wide, gape’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gapōnąWiktionary, English gap‘to gape’uncertain
- Old Norsec. 800–1350gapaWiktionary, English gap‘to gape, scream’uncertain
- Old Norsec. 800–1350gapWiktionary, English gap‘an empty space, chasm’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gapWiktionary, English gap‘gap, opening’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007gapWiktionary, English gap. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2007, 2006, Jeanne C. Stein: “The robe gaps open at the waist, breasts spilling…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with gap, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- ‘to open wide, gape’
through Old Norse gapa ‘to gape, scream’
- gape ← gapen
10 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun An opening in anything, made by breaking or parting.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “gap”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.