ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

backpack.

A knapsack, sometimes mounted on a light frame, but always supported by straps, worn on a person’s back for the purpose of carrying things, especially when hiking, or on a student's back when carrying books.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbæk.pæk/

A knapsack, sometimes mounted on a light frame, but always supported by straps, worn on a person’s back for the purpose of carrying things, especially when hiking, or on a student's back when carrying books.
A similarly placed item containing a parachute or other life support equipment.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.? Proto-Germanic *baką Proto-West Germanic *bak Old English bæc Middle English bak English back Proto-Germanic *pakkô Proto-West Germanic *pakkō Old English *pæcca? ▲ Proto-West Germanic *pakkō Old Dutch *pakko Middle Dutch pakbor.? Middle English pak English pack English backpack From back + pack. First attested in 1896.

verb/ˈbæk.pæk/

To hike and camp overnight in backcountry with one's gear carried in a backpack.
intransitive
I spent a month backpacking in the Rockies.
To engage in low-cost, generally urban, travel with minimal luggage and frugal accommodation.
intransitive
To place or carry (an item or items) in a backpack.
rare · transitive
Astronauts backpack oxygen during spacewalks.

Where this word comes from

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.