Equip

How to spell equip

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce equip

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does equip mean?

1. verbTo supply a person, place, or thing with the items, tools, or qualities needed for a particular purpose.

Equip in a sentence

• The company will equip every delivery van with a tracking device.

• The course is designed to equip new managers with practical budgeting skills.

Where does equip come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the sixteenth century from the French verb équiper, which meant to fit out or furnish, especially to provision a ship for a voyage. The French form developed from Old French esquiper, and the trail leads further back to the Old Norse verb skipa, meaning to arrange or set in order, itself built on skip, the Norse word for a ship. So the original picture behind equip is intensely practical: sailors loading and arranging everything a vessel needed before putting to sea. From that nautical sense the meaning broadened to fitting out any person, group, or place with the tools, supplies, or skills required for a task. The single p in the base form is the spelling trap, since the consonant only doubles in the inflected forms equipped and equipping.

How the word is built

• equip (from French équiper: to fit out, furnish)