Topper

How to spell topper

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce topper

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does topper mean?

1. nounA decorative object or piece placed on the top of something, such as a cake or a tree.
2. nounAn informal name for a tall formal top hat.

Topper in a sentence

• The bakery sells a tiny edible topper shaped like a bride and groom.

• The magician produced a rabbit from his black silk topper.

• She clipped a glittering star topper onto the highest branch.

• The groom hired a morning suit and a matching topper for the wedding.

Where does topper come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built directly on the noun top, which descends from the Old English topp, meaning the summit, crest, or highest point of something, and which has close cousins in other Germanic languages such as Dutch top and German Zopf. The suffix -er was added to form a noun describing a thing that sits on or finishes off the top, much as opener and cover name objects by their function. By the early nineteenth century topper had become an informal British name for a top hat, the tall formal headgear that literally crowns a man's outfit. In British slang the same word later stretched to mean an excellent or first-rate person or thing, the idea being that such a one stands at the very top. The modern decorating sense, as in a cake topper or a tree topper, simply revives the plain logic of something placed on top, and the doubled p of the spelling traces straight back to the double p already present in topp.

How the word is built

• top (highest part, from Old English topp)
• -er (agentive/noun suffix: a thing or person that tops)