Ripple

How to spell ripple

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ripple

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ripple mean?

1. nounA small wave or series of small waves on the surface of water, or a similar spreading effect.
2. verbTo form or move in small waves, or to spread gradually outward.

Ripple in a sentence

• noun

  A gentle ripple crossed the pond when the breeze picked up.

• verb

  The wind made the wheat field ripple like the sea.

• noun

  The announcement sent a ripple of excitement through the office.

• verb

  News of the merger began to ripple through the company.

Where does ripple come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Ripple first surfaces in English in the early 1600s, and its precise origin is genuinely uncertain, which is why dictionaries hedge on it. The most widely accepted suggestion connects it to the verb 'rip', meaning 'to tear', with the ending '-le' added as a frequentative, the same little suffix that turns 'crack' into 'crackle' and 'spark' into 'sparkle' to suggest small, repeated motion. On that reading a ripple is literally a tiny, repeated tearing of a smooth surface, which fits the way wind nicks the top of still water. The word later spread from water to any small wave-like spread, such as a ripple of laughter passing through a crowd. Because the origin is murky and partly speculative, the spelling has no deep root to lean on; the double 'p' is simply the regular English pattern after a short stressed vowel, as in 'apple' and 'topple'.

How the word is built

• ripp- (probably from rip: to tear or move sharply)
• -le (frequentative suffix marking small, repeated action)