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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gyp.

A cheat or swindle; a rip-off.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/d͡ʒɪp/
  1. A cheat or swindle; a rip-off.

    derogatory · offensive · sometimes
    Why do we have to buy this new edition of the textbook when there’s almost no difference between it and the previous one? What a gyp!
  2. Synonym of gypsy (“contra dance step”).

Where this word comes from

Perhaps from the term gypsy (“Roma”), due to a stereotype of the Roma as swindlers. Compare jew (“defraud”), from Jew, and welsh (“swindle by defaulting on a debt”), from Welsh. Could also be derived from dupe, with the same pattern (yod coalescence) as idiot becomes eejit in Scottish English.

verb/d͡ʒɪp/
  1. To cheat or swindle.

    derogatory · offensive · sometimes
    The cab driver gypped me out of ten bucks by taking the longer route.
    You better watch out; they'll try to gyp you if you don't know what you're doing.
Where this word comes from

Perhaps from the term gypsy (“Roma”), due to a stereotype of the Roma as swindlers. Compare jew (“defraud”), from Jew, and welsh (“swindle by defaulting on a debt”), from Welsh. Could also be derived from dupe, with the same pattern (yod coalescence) as idiot becomes eejit in Scottish English.

noun
  1. A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend upon (usually several) students, brushing their clothes, carrying parcels, waiting at parties and other tasks; generally equivalent to a scout in the historical sense at Oxford University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.

    historical
  2. The room in which such college servants work.

  3. A small kitchen for use by college students.

Where this word comes from

Perhaps the same as Etymology 1. An earlier theory derived the term from Ancient Greek γύψ (gúps, “vulture”) (/ɡýps/; compare Greek γύπας (gýpas) /ˈʝi.pas/), "in reference to thievish habits of the servants" (and then derived Etymology 1 thence), but this does not explain the pronunciation.

noun
  1. Gypsophila.

Where this word comes from

Shortening.

noun
  1. Pain or discomfort.

    My back's giving me gyp.
Where this word comes from

Perhaps from gee up.

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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.