skip

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a gait in which steps and hops alternate
  2. noun a mistake resulting from neglect
  3. verb bypass

Etymology

From Middle English skippen, skyppen, of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skupjaną, perhaps related to *skeubaną (“to drive, push”), iterative *skuppōną (“to push/move repeatedly, skip”), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ- (“to push, throw, shake”). Related to Icelandic skopa (“to take a run”), Old Swedish skuppa (“to skip”), modern dialectal Swedish skopa, skimpa (“to skip, leap”), and English shove. See also dialectal English skimp (“to mock”) (Etymology 1), considered by some to be related.

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