Pep

How to spell pep

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce pep

What does pep mean?

1. nounLively energy, enthusiasm, or high spirits.
2. verbTo make someone or something more lively or energetic, usually followed by 'up'.

Pep in a sentence

• noun

  A strong coffee gave her the pep she needed for the meeting.

• verb

  The manager tried to pep up the staff before the busy weekend.

• noun

  The team played the second half with far more pep than the first.

• verb

  A splash of colour can pep up a dull room.

Where does pep come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Pep is a clipping of pepper, the pungent spice whose name reaches English from the Latin piper and ultimately from Sanskrit pippali, meaning a long pepper berry. Because pepper has a sharp, biting taste that seems to enliven food, the word came to suggest spirit, fire, and vigour. American English of the early twentieth century shortened pepper to pep to mean exactly that kind of energy or liveliness, and the slang quickly spread into common use. The same lively association produced phrases like pep talk and pep rally, both of which keep the idea of stirring people up. Despite its short, casual look, pep is a direct relative of the everyday word pepper, which is a useful memory hook for its single, doubled-free spelling.

How the word is built

• pep (clipped form of pepper)