pip

1 of 6

noun (1)

ˈpip 

1

a

: a disorder of a bird marked by formation of a scale or crust on the tongue

b

: the scale or crust of this disorder

2

a

: any of various human ailments

especially : a slight nonspecific disorder

b

chiefly British : a feeling of irritation or annoyance

pip

2 of 6

verb (1)

pipped; pipping

intransitive verb

1

: peep entry 1 sense 1

2

: to break through the shell of the egg

the chick pipped

transitive verb

: to break open (the shell of an egg) in hatching

pip

3 of 6

noun (2)

1

a

: one of the dots used on dice and dominoes to indicate numerical value

b

: spot sense 2c

2

a

: spot, speck entry 1

b

: spike entry 1 sense 6a

also : blip

3

: an individual rootstock of the lily of the valley

4

: a diamond-shaped insignia of rank worn by a second lieutenant, lieutenant, or captain in the British army

pip

4 of 6

noun (3)

1

: a small fruit seed

especially : one of a several-seeded fleshy fruit

2

: one extraordinary of its kind

pip

5 of 6

verb (2)

pipped; pipping

transitive verb

British

: to beat by a narrow margin

pip

6 of 6

noun (4)

chiefly British

: a short high-pitched tone

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• aggravation
• aggro [British]
• annoyance
• bother
• botheration
• exasperation
• frustration
• grief
• irritation
• vexation

Verb (1)

• cheep
• chirp
• chirrup
• chitter
• jargon
• peep
• pipe
• tweet
• twitter

Noun (2)

• blotch
• dapple
• dot
• eyespot
• fleck
• mottle
• patch
• point
• speck
• speckle
• splotch
• spot

Noun (3)

• beaut
• beauty
• bee's knees
• cat's meow
• corker
• crackerjack
• crackajack
• daisy
• dandy
• dilly
• doozy
• doozie
• doozer
• dream
• honey
• hot stuff
• humdinger
• hummer
• jim-dandy
• knockout
• lollapalooza
• lulu [slang]
• nifty
• peach
• pippin
• ripper
• ripsnorter
• snorter
• sockdolager
• sockdologer
• standout
• sweetheart

Examples of pip in a Sentence

Noun (1)

listening to all that chat show blather gives me the pip

Verb (1)

baby birds pipping loudly in their nest

Noun (2)

a black horse with white pips

Noun (3)

that new sports car is a real pip

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

After two years of human heartbreak, Jackie and Shadow’s fans are celebrating the pips. —Amanda Kooser, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025

At the 8-minute mark, add an individual Hershey’s pip onto each cookie and rotate the baking sheet. —Kermilia White, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2024

Set aside 22 pips for garnish; roughly chop the remaining candy. —Kermilia White, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2024

Some wine jars dating back 5,000 years ago containing pips and residues have also been discovered in Egypt. —Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 26 Sep. 2024

Like shields, your primary weapons are enhanced when five pips of the weapon gauge are filled. —PCMAG, 14 Aug. 2024

One of the basic ones was a computer-vision model that could detect the dominoes that were on the table, tell you their orientation, and then tell you how many pips were on each domino: one, five, six, or whatever. —IEEE Spectrum, 17 Feb. 2022

Love, your resident pip with pizzazz. —Town & Country, 2 Mar. 2023

Verb

Enjoyment might be too strong, but Liverpool are not feeling too sorry for a rival that has pipped them to two league titles suffering a difficult campaign. —Sam Lee, The Athletic, 22 Feb. 2025

The Italian team last constructors’ title came a year later, incidentally when the Briton secured his first world crown in an exhilarating finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix, pipping local hero Felipe Massa to the championship by the barest of margins. —Dan Cancian, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025

James McAvoy won best British humor Madison’s win was all the more notable given that David Jonsson pipped her (and his Industry costar Marisa Abela) to the Rising Star Award, presented by James McAvoy. —Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 17 Feb. 2025

Liverpool, currently on course for the title, were in the ‘stunk the place out this summer’ category, while in the rankings of which club had the best window, West Ham United were narrowly pipped to top spot by, er, Manchester United. —Michael Cox, The Athletic, 5 Feb. 2025

But he is just pipped by Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk. —Andy Jones, The Athletic, 28 Dec. 2024

Predictions Waters and Fahey advance out of the top half, while Parenteau pips Buckner for the group from the bottom half. —Todd Boss, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024

The process of chicks breaking out of their shells is also known as pipping. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Feb. 2024

Beale Street rides its early momentum to a Best Director win for Jenkins, though once again he’s pipped at the finish line. —Nate Jones, Vulture, 2 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English pippe, from Middle Dutch (akin to Old High German pfiffīz), from Vulgar Latin *pipita, alteration of Latin pituita phlegm, pip; perhaps akin to Greek pitys pine — more at pine

Verb (1)

imitative

Noun (2)

origin unknown

Noun (3)

short for pippin

Verb (2)

probably from pip to blackball, from pip entry 3 or pip entry 4

Noun (4)

imitative

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb (1)

1598, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun (2)

1604, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun (3)

1797, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (2)

1880, in the meaning defined above

Noun (4)

1907, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing pip

• pip-pip
• pip-squeak

Rhymes for pip

• blip
• chip
• clip
• dip
• drip
• flip
• grip
• grippe
• hip
• ip
• kip
• lip

Kids Definition

pip

1 of 3 verb

ˈpip 

pipped; pipping

1

: to break through the shell of the egg in hatching

2

: to be broken by a pipping bird

eggs starting to pip

pip

2 of 3 noun

1

: a dot or spot (as on dice or playing cards) that indicates numerical value

2

: blip

pip

3 of 3 noun

1

: a small fruit seed

apple pips

2

: something very good of its kind

Etymology

Verb

imitative word

Noun

origin unknown

Noun

a shortened form of pippin "a kind of apple"

Medical Definition

pip

noun

ˈpip 

: the formation of a scale or crust on the tip and dorsal surface of the tongue of a bird often associated with respiratory diseases

also : the scale or crust itself