Flip

How to spell flip

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce flip

What does flip mean?

1. verbTo turn something over quickly, or to toss it so it spins in the air.
2. nounA quick turn, somersault, or toss.

Flip in a sentence

• verb

  The referee will flip a coin to decide who starts.

• noun

  The gymnast landed a perfect flip on the mat.

• verb

  You need to flip the pancake before it burns.

• noun

  The winner was decided by a single coin flip.

Where does flip come from?

Language of origin: Other

Flip first appears in English in the late 1500s and is generally treated as an imitative or echoic word, meaning it was coined to suggest the brisk, snapping movement it names rather than being inherited from an older root. It is most likely a blend of the sounds in 'fillip', a flick made by pressing a finger against the thumb and releasing it sharply, and the abrupt sound of something turning over quickly. From an early sense of a smart, sudden flick, it broadened to cover tossing something so it turns in the air, as in flipping a coin, and then to any quick reversal of position. The same sound-symbolic family gives us 'flap', 'flop', and 'flick', all built on short, snappy syllables that mimic rapid motion. Because the word is short and entirely phonetic, its spelling has stayed simple and unchanged for centuries, with the single 'f', single 'l', and single 'p' all sounding exactly as written.

How the word is built

• flip (a single root of imitative origin; no prefix or suffix)