Tip

How to spell tip

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tip

What does tip mean?

1. nounThe narrow or pointed end of something.
2. nounA small sum of money given to someone for a service.
3. nounA useful piece of practical advice or inside information.
4. verbTo tilt, lean, or cause something to overturn.
5. nounA place where rubbish is taken and dumped.

Tip in a sentence

• noun

  The tip of the pencil snapped against the desk.

• noun

  The waiter pocketed a generous tip after the meal.

• noun

  A handy tip for saving fuel is to keep the tyres inflated.

• verb

  Be careful not to tip the canoe when you stand up.

• noun

  He loaded the old mattress into the van and drove to the tip.

• noun

  She balanced the tray on the tip of one finger.

Where does tip come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The oldest sense of tip, meaning the slender pointed end of something, came into English in the 1400s from a Germanic source related to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch tip, meaning a point or extremity. The verb sense of tilting or overturning appears a little later and probably shares the same family, the idea being that a thing is pushed onto its point or edge. The meaning of a small gift of money to a servant or waiter emerged in the 1700s, and despite a popular myth it is not an acronym; it grew naturally from an older slang verb tip meaning to hand over or pass something quietly. From that same notion of passing along came the sense of a useful piece of inside information or advice, as in a betting tip. Because the word is so short and phonetically transparent, its spelling almost never trips writers up; the only doubling rule to remember is that the second p appears when you add an ending, as in tipped or tipping.

How the word is built

• tip (a single Germanic root meaning a pointed extremity); the gratuity and advice senses are later figurative or slang developments of the same short word