Flipping

How to spell flipping

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce flipping

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does flipping mean?

1. verbTurning something over quickly with a sharp movement.
2. adjectiveA mild informal intensifier used to express irritation, common in British speech.
3. verbBuying property cheaply and reselling it quickly for a profit.

Flipping in a sentence

• verb

  The chef was flipping pancakes in the hot pan.

• adjective

  The flipping printer has jammed again right before the deadline.

• verb

  He made a steady income by flipping rundown houses after quick renovations.

• verb

  She kept flipping through the magazine looking for the recipe.

• adjective

  He could not find his keys anywhere in the flipping house.

• verb

  The couple grew their savings by flipping flats in a rising market.

Where does flipping come from?

Language of origin: Other

The base verb 'flip' first appears in English in the late 1500s and is generally taken to be imitative in origin, an echoic word coined to suggest the brisk, snapping motion of something being tossed or turned over; it may also be a blend of 'fillip', meaning a small sharp blow struck with a finger. From that root English formed the present participle 'flipping' by doubling the final consonant and adding '-ing', a regular pattern for short verbs ending in a single vowel plus consonant, which is exactly why the spelling carries two letter p's. Over the centuries 'flip' broadened from the literal flick to a wide range of senses, from flipping coins to flipping switches. In British and Irish speech 'flipping' also developed into a mild, inoffensive intensifier, a polite stand-in for a stronger swear word, much as 'blooming' or 'blinking' did. More recently the financial sense of 'flipping' property, buying something cheaply and reselling it quickly for profit, grew popular in the late twentieth century.

How the word is built

• flip (to turn over quickly)
• -p- (doubled consonant)
• -ing (present participle / gerund suffix)