Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “lip” come from?

Lip comes from Middle English lippe, from Old English lippa, from Proto-Germanic lipjô, from Proto-Indo-European leb-.

lip (English): Either of the two fleshy protrusions around the...

Definitions

  1. Either of the two fleshy protrusions around the...

Ancestry of “lip”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Germanlippe—
2Yiddishליפּlip
3Middle High Germanlippe—
4Old High German*lippa—
5Proto-Germanic*lippjō—

Words derived from “lip”

  • lipstick
  • lipped
  • underlip
  • lipless
  • harelip
  • lipsticked
  • lippy
  • harelipped
  • lipread
  • liplock
  • lippie
  • blacklip
  • lipliner
  • liplike
  • lipreader
  • lipsticky
  • lippiness
  • lipline
  • goldlip
  • unlipsticked
  • unlipped
  • lippedness
  • lipstickless
  • lippage
Every word from Proto-Germanic *lippjō →