Etymology

tape

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Today it means: Flexible material in a roll with a sticky surface on one or both sides; adhesive tape. Full definition →

Middle English tape ← Old English tæppa
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The story

  1. Old Englishtæppa
  2. Middle Englishtape
  3. English todaytape

From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”); further origin unclear. Probably akin to Old Frisian tapia (“to pull, rip, tear”), Middle Low German tappen, tāpen (“to grab, pull, rip, tear, snatch”), Middle High German zāfen, zāven (“to pull, tear”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.