Jumper

How to spell jumper

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce jumper

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does jumper mean?

1. nounA knitted pullover worn over the upper body for warmth.
2. nounA sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or shirt.
3. nounA short wire or connector used to close or bridge a gap in an electrical circuit.
4. nounA person or animal that jumps, especially in sport.

Jumper in a sentence

• She pulled on a thick wool jumper before walking the dog.

• The toddler wore a denim jumper over a striped top.

• He set the drive mode by moving a small jumper on the motherboard.

• The long jumper landed well beyond the previous record mark.

• The school uniform includes a grey jumper and a white shirt.

• She paired a plaid jumper with a turtleneck for autumn.

Where does jumper come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word builds on 'jump', a verb that surfaced in English around the 1500s and was probably imitative in origin, echoing the soft thud of feet landing; it has no clear earlier ancestor and may simply have been coined for its sound. The agent suffix '-er', inherited from Old English and shared across the Germanic languages, turned 'jump' into 'jumper', literally 'one who or that which jumps'. From this came senses like an athlete who jumps and an electrical link that lets current 'jump' across a gap. The clothing sense is a separate strand: the British 'jumper' for a knitted pullover seems to come from an older dialect word 'jump' or 'jumps', a kind of loose jacket or bodice, which itself may trace back to the French 'juppe', a long garment. Because two unrelated histories collided on the same spelling, 'jumper' now means a sweater to a Briton and a sleeveless pinafore dress to an American.

How the word is built

• jump (verb root, to spring off the ground)
• -er (agent or instrument suffix)