Etymograph

English

hop

Hop comes from Old English hoppian ‘to hop, spring, leap, dance’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kewb- ‘to bend, bow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kewb-1‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huppōną1‘to hop’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*huppōn1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hoppian1‘to hop’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoppen1
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1701hop1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hop
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1701, John Dryden, (please specify the title): “The limping smith […]hopping here and there, himself a…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kewb-Wiktionary, English hop‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huppōnąWiktionary, English hop‘to hop’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*huppōnWiktionary, English hopreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hoppianWiktionary, English hop‘to hop’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoppenWiktionary, English hop
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1701hopWiktionary, English hop. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1701, John Dryden, (please specify the title): “The limping smith […]hopping here and there, himself a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kewb- ‘to bend, bow’

hoop

through Old English hoppian ‘to hop, spring, leap, dance’

hopper

Another origin of hop

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)keup‘tuft, hair of the head’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huppôreconstructed
  3. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*hopporeconstructed
  4. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500hoppe
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoppe
  6. Englishtodayhop

Today it means

noun A short jump.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hop”. 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.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kewb- / hop

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