gyp
/d͡ʒɪp/
gyp noun: a cheat or swindle; a rip-off.
Noun (1)
gyp (plural gyps)
Verb
gyp (third-person singular simple present gyps, present participle gypping, simple past and past participle gypped)
Noun (2)
gyp (plural gyps)
- 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.
- All was neglect. The outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on a level with the Quadrangle — some coats and trousers and boots were upon the ebony table and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within the door — in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within the library...1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 40
- 'Why, what is the matter with you, John?' I asked of the gyp who waited on Vincey and myself.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- The room in which such college servants work.
- A small kitchen for use by college students.
Noun (3)
gyp (plural gyps)
Noun (4)
gyp (plural gyps)
- Pain or discomfort.
- My back's giving me gyp.
- The oldest wizard, Greyhald Spold of the Ancient and Truly Original Sages of the Unbroken Circle, leaned heavily on his carven staff and spake thusly: ‘Get on with it, Weatherwax, my feet are giving me gyp.’1986, Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic, published 2022, pages 33-34
gyp meaning in Urdu
gyp in Urdu
- چکمہ, دھوکا باز, دھوکا بازی, دھوکا دینا
Synonyms of gyp
Forms of gyp
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gyps |
| alternative form | gip |
| alternative form | jip |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gyps |
| present participle | gypping |
| past participle | gypped |
| past | gypped |
Origin of gyp
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.
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.
Shortening.
Words formed from gyp
Phrases with gyp
Words that rhyme with gyp
39 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about gyp
- What does gyp mean?
- Gyp means a cheat or swindle; a rip-off.
- What is gyp in Urdu?
- Gyp in Urdu is چکمہ, دھوکا باز, دھوکا بازی. See Gyp meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is gyp?
- Gyp can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce gyp?
- Gyp is pronounced /d͡ʒɪp/.
- What is the plural of gyp?
- The plural of gyp is gyps.
Words near gyp in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gyp (page history and authors); gyp (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-gyp.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gyp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gyp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.