Lap

How to spell lap

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lap

What does lap mean?

1. nounThe flat area formed by the upper legs of a person who is sitting down.
2. nounOne complete circuit around a track or course.
3. verbTo drink liquid by scooping it up with the tongue, as an animal does.

Lap in a sentence

• noun

  The cat curled up in her lap during the film.

• noun

  She set her fastest time on the final lap of the race.

• verb

  Dogs lap water noisily from their bowls.

• noun

  He balanced his plate on his lap because the table was full.

• noun

  The swimmer counted each lap of the pool as she trained.

• verb

  The kitten began to lap the milk from the saucer.

Where does lap come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word lap traces back to the Old English laeppa, which meant a loose, flat or hanging part of a garment, such as a fold or flap of cloth. Because that hanging fold naturally settled across a person's knees when they sat down, the word drifted to mean the flat area formed by the upper legs of a seated person, the sense most people think of first today. The verb meaning to drink by scooping liquid with the tongue comes from a separate but equally old Old English root, lapian, imitative of the lapping sound an animal makes. The racing sense, one circuit of a track, grew in the 1800s from the idea of one length of cloth folded over, since a runner effectively folds back on the course. The spelling has stayed simple and unchanged for centuries, which is why it almost never trips up a writer.

How the word is built

• lap (single Old English root, no affixes)