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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

leap.

To jump.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈliːp/[ˈlɪi̯p]Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɛp/
  1. To jump.

    intransitive
  2. To pass over by a leap or jump.

    transitive
    to leap a wall or a ditch
  3. To copulate with (a female beast)

    archaic · transitive
  4. To copulate with (a human)

    archaic
  5. To cause to leap.

    transitive
    to leap a horse across a ditch
Where this word comes from

From Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaupan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną. Doublet of lope, lowp, elope, gallop, galop, interlope, and loop. Cognate with North Frisian laap, luup, luupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Saterland Frisian lope, loope (“to run”), West Frisian ljeppe (“to jump”), Dutch lopen (“to run; to walk”), German laufen (“to run; to walk”), Limburgish loupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Low German lopen, loupen (“to run”), Luxembourgish lafen (“to run”), Vilamovian łaojfa (“to run”), Danish løbe (“to run”), Faroese leypa (“to jump”), Icelandic hlaupa (“to run; to jump”), Norwegian Bokmål løpe (“to run”), Norwegian Nynorsk laupa, laupe, løpa, løpe (“to run”), Swedish löpa (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, stumble”) (compare Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).

noun/ˈliːp/[ˈlɪi̯p]Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɛp/
  1. The act of leaping or jumping.

    He made a leap across the river.
  2. The distance traversed by a leap or jump.

  3. A group of leopards.

    collective
  4. A significant move forward.

    figuratively
  5. A large step in reasoning, often one that is not justified by the facts.

    figuratively
    It's quite a leap to claim that those cloud formations are evidence of UFOs.
  6. A fault.

  7. Copulation (by a male animal) with a female one.

  8. A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other intermediate intervals.

  9. A small cataract over which fish attempt to jump; a salmon ladder.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaupan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną. Doublet of lope, lowp, elope, gallop, galop, interlope, and loop. Cognate with North Frisian laap, luup, luupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Saterland Frisian lope, loope (“to run”), West Frisian ljeppe (“to jump”), Dutch lopen (“to run; to walk”), German laufen (“to run; to walk”), Limburgish loupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Low German lopen, loupen (“to run”), Luxembourgish lafen (“to run”), Vilamovian łaojfa (“to run”), Danish løbe (“to run”), Faroese leypa (“to jump”), Icelandic hlaupa (“to run; to jump”), Norwegian Bokmål løpe (“to run”), Norwegian Nynorsk laupa, laupe, løpa, løpe (“to run”), Swedish löpa (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, stumble”) (compare Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).

adj/ˈliːp/[ˈlɪi̯p]Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɛp/
  1. Intercalary, bissextile.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English lepen, from Old English hlēapan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlaupan, from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną. Doublet of lope, lowp, elope, gallop, galop, interlope, and loop. Cognate with North Frisian laap, luup, luupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Saterland Frisian lope, loope (“to run”), West Frisian ljeppe (“to jump”), Dutch lopen (“to run; to walk”), German laufen (“to run; to walk”), Limburgish loupe (“to jog, run, walk”), Low German lopen, loupen (“to run”), Luxembourgish lafen (“to run”), Vilamovian łaojfa (“to run”), Danish løbe (“to run”), Faroese leypa (“to jump”), Icelandic hlaupa (“to run; to jump”), Norwegian Bokmål løpe (“to run”), Norwegian Nynorsk laupa, laupe, løpa, løpe (“to run”), Swedish löpa (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- (“to spring, stumble”) (compare Lithuanian šlùbti ‘to become lame’, klùbti ‘to stumble’).

noun/ˈliːp/[ˈlɪi̯p]Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɛp/
  1. A trap or snare for fish, made from twigs; a weely.

  2. Half a bushel.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English lep, from Old English lēap (“basket”), from Proto-West Germanic *laup, from Proto-Germanic *laupaz (“container, basket”). Cognate with Icelandic laupur (“basket”).

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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.