English
hip
Hip comes from Old English hype, from Proto-West Germanic *hupi, from Proto-Germanic *hupiz ‘hip, haunch’, of uncertain origin.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hupiz‘hip, haunch’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hupi‘hip’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hype‘hip’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hipe‘hip’
- Englishearliest quotation 1887hip
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hupiz‘hip, haunch’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hupi‘hip’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hype‘hip’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hipe‘hip’
- Englishearliest quotation 1887hip
Earliest quotation: 1887, John Alexander Low Waddell: “in all bridges preference will be given to designs…”
The story
The sense "drug addict" derives from addicts lying on their hips while using certain drugs such as opium.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb-
incumbent, cove, cubicle, succumb, concubine, succubus, incubus, incubate, hobble, shoop, cubit, 13 more
Another origin of hip
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱewb-‘briar, thorn’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*heupǭ‘thornbush’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hēope
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hepe
- Englishtodayhip
Another origin of hip
- Wolofmodernhepi‘to see’uncertain
- Englishtodayhip
Unknown or disputed.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Probably a variant of hep; both forms are attested from the first decade of the 20th century. Some sources suggest derivation from Wolof hepi (‘to see’) or hipi (‘to open one’s eyes’). Others suggest connection to the noun, as opium smokers were said to lie on a hip.
Today it means
noun The outward-projecting parts of the pelvis and top of the femur and the overlying tissue.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hupiz / hip