trap

trap · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*drebʰ-“to step, trip, trample”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*trapjaną“to tread, stamp”
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*trappjan“to step”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*trappjā“trap, snare”
5. Old English · inherited fromtræppe
6. Middle English · inherited fromtrappe
7. English todaytrap

From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe, treppe (“trap, snare”) (also in betræppan (“to trap”)) from Proto-West Germanic *trappjā (“trap, snare”), from Proto-West Germanic *trappjan (“to step”), from Proto-Germanic *trapjaną (“to tread, stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *drebʰ- (“to step, trip, trample”). Cognate with Dutch trap (“step, stair”), German Low German Trapp (“step, stair”). Akin also to West Frisian traap (“stepping, treading, stairway”), German Treppe (“step, stair”), Old English træppan (“to step, tread”). Connection to "step" is "that upon which one steps". French trappe and Spanish trampa are ultimately borrowings from Germanic.

trap · noun²

1. Middle Low German · derived fromtrappe“stair, step”
2. Swedish · borrowed fromtrapp“step, stair, stairway”
3. English todaytrap

Borrowed from Swedish trapp (“step, stair, stairway”), from Middle Low German trappe (“stair, step”).

trap · verb³

1. Old Northern French · derived fromtrape
2. Middle English · inherited fromtrappe“trappings, gear”
3. English todaytrap

Akin to Middle English trappe (“trappings, gear”), and perhaps from Old Northern French trape, a byform of Old French drap, a word of the same origin as English drab (“a kind of cloth”).

trap · noun⁴

Clipping of trapezius.

Words from the same roots