sap

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To slowly drain away someone's strength, energy, or determination.

   The long heatwave sapped everyone's energy.

2. 2
   noun

   The watery liquid that flows through a plant and carries its nutrients.

   Maple syrup is made from the sweet sap of the maple tree.

3. 3
   verb

   To gradually weaken or undermine something.

   Constant criticism can sap a child's confidence.

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Simplified etymology

The noun sap comes from Old English sæp, “vital fluid,” and is probably Germanic. The verb meaning “weaken,” recorded from the mid-18th century, is unrelated: it comes from a late 16th-century verb meaning “dig a tunnel or covered trench” and hence “undermine.” That verb derives through French saper from Italian zappa, “spade” or “spadework,” probably ultimately from Arabic sarab, “underground passage,” or sabora, “probe a wound, explore.” Sapper, a term for a military engineer, comes from this second origin.

From Middle English sap, from Old English sæp (“juice, sap”), from Proto-West Germanic *sap (“sap, juice”) (compare Dutch sap, German Saft, Icelandic safi), from Proto-Indo-European *sab-, *sap- (“to taste”) (compare Welsh syb-wydd (“fir”), Latin sapa (“must, new wine”), Russian со́пли (sópli, “snivel”), Old Armenian համ (ham, “taste”), Avestan 𐬬𐬌-𐬱𐬁𐬞𐬀 (vi-šāpa, “having poisonous juices”), Sanskrit सबर् (sabar, “juice, nectar”)). More at sage. sap (“naive person”) is a clipping of sapskull (literally “person with sap in their skull”).

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External links

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