Word.ws English Dictionary

nape

/neɪp/

nape noun: the back part of the neck.

nape: the back part of the neck
Image: Daniel Bachler, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

nape (plural napes)

  1. The back part of the neck.
    • He was still stroking Radar, long glides of his hand from nape to tail.2022, Stephen King, chapter 8, in Fairy Tale, page 132
  2. The part of a fish or bird immediately behind the head.

Noun (2)

nape (plural napes)

  1. (obsolete) A tablecloth.

Noun (3)

nape (uncountable)

  1. (slang) Napalm.
    • RHAH: They got through Alpha Company! Anything behind you don't identify itself, blow it away. Two - air strike's coming in. They gonna lay snake and nape right on the perimeter so stay tight in your holes and don't leave 'em.1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon (film script)

Verb

nape (third-person singular simple present napes, present participle naping, simple past and past participle naped)

  1. (slang, transitive) To bombard with napalm.

Noun (4) capitalized: NAPE

NAPE (plural NAPEs)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine.

nape meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi and Assamese

nape in Hindi

back part of the neck
गुद्दी guddī, मन्या manyā, क़फ़ा qafā

nape in Tamil

back part of the neck
பிடரி piṭari, பின்னந்தலை piṉṉantalai, பொடனி poṭaṉi

nape in Punjabi

back part of the neck
ਧੌਣ dhauṇ, ਗਿੱਚੀ giccī, دَھوݨ dhauṇ, گِچّی giccī

nape in Assamese

back part of the neck
ঘাৰ ghar
More languagesFewer languages
nape in Tagalog
batok
nape in Arabic
قَفًا qafan
nape in Malay
tengkuk, nuka
nape in Indonesian
kuduk, tengkuk
nape in Thai
ต้นคอ dtôn-kɔɔ
nape in Vietnamese
gáy, ót
Dhivehi
ކަނދުރާ kaⁿdurā, ކަނދަރަ kaⁿdara

Examples of nape in a sentence

  • "Hobson's Choice." He was still stroking Radar, long glides of his hand from nape to tail.
  • When Hel shrugged and changed the subject diplomatically, the nape of Diamond's neck horripilated with embarrassment.
  • We recognize the myaamiaki, Lënape, Bodwéwadmik, and saawanwa people as past, present, and future caretakers of this land.

All 10 example sentences with nape

Synonyms of nape

All synonyms of nape

Forms of nape

Noun
pluralnapes
pluralNAPEs
Verb
third-person singular presentnapes
present participlenaping
past participlenaped
pastnaped

Plural of nape: napes

Origin of nape

From Middle English nape, naape, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old French hanap (“goblet”), from Frankish *hnapp, from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz ( > Old English hnæpp, hnæp (“cup, bowl, goblet”)), as there is a hollow at the base of the skull. More at nap.

From Middle English nape, from Old French nape, nappe (“a cloth”), from Medieval Latin nappa, napa (“cloth, table-cloth, sheet”), alteration of Latin mappa (“a cloth, napkin, towel”). More at map, apron. Doublet of map, mop, and nappe.

Short for napalm.

Words formed from nape

Words that rhyme with nape

21 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about nape

What does nape mean?
Nape means the back part of the neck.
What is nape in Hindi?
Nape in Hindi is गुद्दी (guddī), मन्या (manyā), क़फ़ा (qafā). See Nape meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is nape?
Nape can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce nape?
Nape is pronounced /neɪp/.
What is the plural of nape?
The plural of nape is napes.

Words near nape in the dictionary

  1. Napanoch
  2. Napao
  3. Naparing
  4. napas
  5. Napaul
  6. nape
  7. naped
  8. napelline
  9. napellus
  10. Naper
  11. naperer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nape (page history and authors); NAPE (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-au-nape.ogg, En-us-nape.oga.

Cite this entry: “nape.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nape. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.