Clap

How to spell clap

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce clap

What does clap mean?

1. verbTo strike the palms of the hands together, usually to show approval or to get attention.
2. nounA sudden, sharp, loud noise, or a single act of striking the hands together.

Clap in a sentence

• verb

  The audience began to clap as soon as the curtain rose.

• noun

  A sudden clap of thunder rattled the windows during the storm.

• verb

  The teacher would clap twice to bring the room to order.

• noun

  She gave a single clap to signal that the meeting had ended.

Where does clap come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Clap comes from the Old English verb clæppan, which meant to beat, throb, or strike noisily, and it belongs to a family of imitative words found across the Germanic languages, including Old Norse klappa and Dutch and German klappen, all of which describe a sudden striking or knocking sound. The word is what linguists call onomatopoeic, meaning it was coined to echo the very noise it describes, the sharp report made when two flat surfaces, or two hands, meet quickly. Because it is so old and native to English, the spelling has stayed reassuringly simple, with a clean consonant cluster at each end and no silent letters. Over the centuries the verb broadened from any loud blow to the specific gesture of striking the palms together in applause, while the noun came to name both that gesture and any abrupt loud sound, as in a clap of thunder. Its plain, four-letter form has barely changed in more than a thousand years.

How the word is built

• clap (a single imitative root; no prefix or suffix, the word imitates the sharp sound it names)