caper

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈkeɪpɚ/ UK /ˈkeɪpə/ See IPA manual

noun verb

Meanings

1

noun
a playful leap or madcap escapade; to skip about merrily

The lambs capered across the spring meadow.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a playful leap or madcap... frolic gambol romp escapade prank antic cavort

Word family

Derived forms capering

Etymology

Probably a shortening of capriole ('a leap'), from Italian capriola ('a leap, somersault'), literally 'a goat-leap', from Latin caper ('goat').

caper Middle French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# caper

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** ˈkeɪpɚ
**IPA (UK):** ˈkeɪpə

## Meanings
1. a playful leap or madcap escapade; to skip about merrily

## Examples
- The lambs capered across the spring meadow.

## Synonyms
- frolic
- gambol
- romp
- escapade
- prank
- antic
- cavort

## Derived Forms
- capering

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: caper

## Etymology
Probably a shortening of capriole ('a leap'), from Italian capriola ('a leap, somersault'), literally 'a goat-leap', from Latin caper ('goat').

## AI Etymology
Caper is probably a shortening of capriole ('a leap'), from Italian capriola ('a leap, somersault'), literally 'a goat-leap', from Latin caper ('goat'). The historical trail runs through caper in Latin. Used as a noun and verb, caper now means "a playful leap or madcap escapade; to skip about merrily", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as capering. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown

caper

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback