Meaning & use
pip
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Meanings
nouncountableBritish
A small hard seed inside a fruit such as an apple, orange, or grape.
Grammar: Countable: an apple has several pips. Mostly British; Americans say seed.
Patterns
- spit out a pip
- remove the pips
She picked the pips out of the orange before squeezing the juice.
A grape pip got stuck in my teeth.
The children planted an apple pip in a pot.
nouncountable
A single spot on a playing card, domino, or die that shows its value.
Grammar: Count noun: the six of spades has six pips.
Patterns
- the pips on a die
Count the pips on the domino to find its value.
The ace of hearts has a single large pip.
Two of the pips on the card were smudged.
nouncountableBritishmilitary
A small star-shaped badge on a military officer's shoulder showing rank.
Grammar: Usually plural in British Army talk: a lieutenant wears one pip.
Patterns
- wear two pips
The captain wears three pips on each shoulder.
He was proud to sew the first pip onto his uniform.
A new pip meant a new level of responsibility.
nounusually pluralBritish
A short high electronic beep, such as the time signal on the radio.
Grammar: Usually plural: the six pips.
Patterns
- the pips
The pips on the radio signalled the start of the hour.
I heard the pips and knew we were late.
A pip sounded when the line was about to be cut.
Word forms
| plural | pips |
|---|
Common combinations
- apple pip
- An apple pip can grow into a tree, but rarely the same variety.
- grape pips
- Grape pips are crushed to make oil.
- remove the pips
- Remove the pips before blending the fruit.
- the six pips
- The six pips on the radio marked midnight.
- pips on a die
- Add up the pips on both dice to see how far you move.
Synonyms and how they differ
- seed
- Seed is the general term and the usual American word, while pip is mainly British and used for the seeds of citrus and apple-type fruit.
- pit
- Pit is a single large hard stone inside fruit like a cherry, whereas a pip is small and there are usually several.
- stone
- A stone is a single hard core in fruits such as plums, much bigger than a pip.
- spot
- Spot is any mark, and pip is the specific printed mark on cards, dice, and dominoes.
Word family
- pip-squeak noun
- an unimportant or small person, informal
- pipped verb
- past form of pip meaning to beat narrowly, as in 'pipped at the post'
Commonly confused: pip or pit?
pip vs pit
In American English a pit is the stone of a cherry, peach, or olive; British writers use pip for small seeds, and stone for the large ones.
Practice
A British cook tells you to 'take out the pips' from an orange. What should you remove?
Choose one answer.
Pips are the small hard seeds inside fruit. The other options describe other parts of the orange.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pip”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.