Strap

How to spell strap

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce strap

What does strap mean?

1. nounA narrow strip of leather, fabric, or other flexible material used for fastening, carrying, or holding something in place.
2. verbTo fasten, secure, or bind something using a strap or similar band.

Strap in a sentence

• noun

  The strap on her handbag snapped during the commute.

• verb

  Remember to strap the toddler into the car seat before driving.

• noun

  He tightened the strap to secure the helmet under his chin.

• verb

  The movers will strap the wardrobe to the trolley for the stairs.

Where does strap come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Strap is a relatively late variant of the older English word 'strop', and both ultimately trace back to the Latin stroppus, meaning a twisted band, thong, or strip of leather. The Latin word was itself borrowed from the Greek strophos, a twisted cord or band, which came from the verb strephein, meaning 'to twist' or 'to turn'. The original 'strop' form survives in English as the leather band used to sharpen a razor, while the form spelled with an 'a' rose to prominence in the 1600s and steadily took over the everyday meaning of a fastening band. Because the word is so short and phonetically regular, the spelling rarely troubles writers; the consonant cluster 'str-' simply maps straight onto the sounds. It shares its twisting ancestry with words like 'catastrophe' and 'apostrophe', which also descend from the same Greek root for turning.

How the word is built

• strap (single root; a variant of older 'strop', a band or thong)