Trips

How to spell trips

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce trips

What does trips mean?

1. nounShort journeys or excursions to a place and back.
2. verbCatches the foot on something and stumbles or nearly falls.

Trips in a sentence

• noun

  The company reimburses all business trips taken by train.

• verb

  He often trips on the loose carpet at the top of the stairs.

• noun

  Weekend trips to the coast became their summer routine.

• verb

  A toddler easily trips over toys left on the floor.

Where does trips come from?

Language of origin: French

This word descends from the Middle English verb 'trippen', meaning to step lightly or to dance, which English took from the Old French 'triper', to stamp or strike with the feet. That French verb itself probably came from a Germanic source related to the same root that gives us 'trample' and 'tread', all carrying the idea of moving the feet. The earliest English sense was a light, nimble step, and from there the meaning split in two directions: catching the foot and stumbling, and, by the 1600s, making a short journey or excursion. The plural and verb form simply add '-s' to that old root, so the spelling holds no hidden trap beyond the single, undoubled 'p'.

How the word is built

• trip (journey; stumble)
• -s (plural noun / third-person singular verb)