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siphon.

A bent pipe or tube with one end lower than the other, in which hydrostatic pressure exerted due to the force of gravity moves liquid from one reservoir to another.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsaɪfən/

  1. A bent pipe or tube with one end lower than the other, in which hydrostatic pressure exerted due to the force of gravity moves liquid from one reservoir to another.

  2. A soda siphon.

  3. A tubelike organ found in animals or elongated cell found in plants.

Where this word comes from

From Middle French siphon, from Old French sifon, from Latin sīphō, from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of uncertain origin; possibly related to Latin tibia (“pipe, flute of bone”), with the irregular forms suggesting a non-Indo-European loan source, perhaps of the shape *twi-, *twibh.

verb/ˈsaɪfən/

  1. To transfer (liquid) by means of a siphon.

    transitive
    He used a rubber tube to siphon petrol from the car's fuel tank.

  2. To transfer directly.

    broadly · transitive

  3. To steal or skim off something, such as money, in small amounts; to embezzle.

    figuratively · often · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle French siphon, from Old French sifon, from Latin sīphō, from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of uncertain origin; possibly related to Latin tibia (“pipe, flute of bone”), with the irregular forms suggesting a non-Indo-European loan source, perhaps of the shape *twi-, *twibh.

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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.