Etymology

seep

S1E1E1P3

Today it means: To ooze or pass slowly through pores or other small openings, and in overly small quantities; said of liquids, etc. Full definition →

Middle English *sipen ← Old English sipian ← Proto-Germanic *sipōną
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*seyb-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*sipōną
  3. Old English · inherited fromsipian
  4. Middle English · inherited from*sipen
  5. English todayseep

Variant of sipe, from Middle English *sipen, from Old English sipian, from Proto-Germanic *sipōną, derivative of *sīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *sib- (“to pour out, drip, trickle”). See also Middle Dutch sīpen (“to drip”), German Low German siepern (“to seep”), archaic German seifen (“to trickle blood”); also Latin sēbum (“suet, tallow”), Ancient Greek εἴβω (eíbō, “to drop, drip”)). See soap.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishsipian all →

sip

Proto-Germanic*sipōną all →

sip

Proto-Indo-European*seyb- all →

soapsipsebaceous

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.