Mop

How to spell mop

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mop

What does mop mean?

1. nounA cleaning tool made of absorbent material on a handle, used to wash or dry floors.
2. verbTo wipe or clean a surface, especially a floor, using a mop or cloth.

Mop in a sentence

• noun

  She wrung out the mop before tackling the kitchen tiles.

• verb

  He had to mop the spilled juice off the kitchen floor.

• noun

  The caretaker kept a bucket and mop in the supply cupboard.

• verb

  Staff must mop the corridors before the shop opens.

Where does mop come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word mop appears in late Middle English, where forms such as mappe or mapyll described a bundle of coarse yarn or rags fixed to a handle for cleaning. Its deeper origin is uncertain, but many lexicographers connect it to the Latin mappa, meaning a napkin or cloth, the same root that lies behind the words map and napkin. The cleaning sense settled firmly by the 1400s, and the verb meaning to wipe or clean with such a tool followed naturally. By extension English speakers began using mop figuratively for a thick, unruly head of hair, which still resembles the loose strands of the cleaning tool. Because the word is short and phonetically regular, its spelling has stayed remarkably stable, with the single trap being whether the final consonant doubles when suffixes are added, as in mopped and mopping.

How the word is built

• mop (single root, no prefix or suffix)