Slaps

How to spell slaps

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce slaps

What does slaps mean?

1. verbStrikes something or someone sharply with the open hand or a flat surface.
2. nounSharp blows delivered with the open hand or a flat object.

Slaps in a sentence

• verb

  The loose shutter slaps against the wall whenever the wind picks up.

• noun

  The old comedy routine earned easy laughs with exaggerated slaps to the face.

• verb

  He slaps a fresh coat of paint onto the fence without much care.

• noun

  A few playful slaps on the back marked their greeting at the reunion.

Where does slaps come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word 'slap' is imitative in origin, meaning it was coined to echo the sharp, flat sound of an open hand striking a surface. English picked it up in the late 1600s, probably reinforced by the Low German 'slappe', which carried the same sense of a smack with the flat of the hand. From the start the word worked as both a noun for the blow and a verb for the action, and the form 'slaps' simply adds the regular -s ending to make the plural noun or the third-person singular present verb. Because the spelling is fully phonetic, with each sound matching a letter, it has never picked up the silent letters or doubled consonants that trip writers up. The echoic origin is a handy reminder: the word sounds exactly like what it describes, and it is spelled exactly as it sounds.

How the word is built

• slap (imitative root for a sharp blow)
• -s (plural noun / third-person singular verb ending)