Etymograph

English

skip

Skip comes from Middle English skippen, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *skupjaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skupjaną1reconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skippen1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1733skip1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English skip
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1733, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. […]: “The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skupjanąWiktionary, English skipreconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skippenWiktionary, English skip
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1733skipWiktionary, English skip. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1733, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. […]: “The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, /…”

The story

From Middle English skippen, skyppen, of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skupjaną, perhaps related to *skeubaną (‘to drive, push’), iterative *skuppōną (‘to push/move repeatedly, skip’), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ- (‘to push, throw, shake’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *skupjaną

Another origin of skip

  1. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600scheppe‘a unit of weight’uncertain
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350skeppa
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sceppe‘a unit of measure, bushel’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skep
  5. Englishtodayskip

From Middle English skep, skeppe, from Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa, skjappa (‘basket, bushel, measure’), perhaps from Middle Low German scheppe (‘a unit of weight’), perhaps related to Middle Low German schēpel (‘buschel, measurement for grain’), German Scheffel (‘bushel’). These could all ultimately be related to *skap (‘shape’).

Another origin of skip

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skey-‘to cut’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skēi-b-uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skipą‘ship’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skip‘ship’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150scip‘ship’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schip‘ship’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skipper
  8. Englishtodayskip

Late Middle English skipper, borrowed from Middle Dutch and Middle Low German schipper (‘captain’), earlier "seaman", from schip (‘ship’).

Today it means

verb To move by hopping on alternate feet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “skip”. 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-Germanic *skupjaną / skip

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