sleeper C2+ Topic:Transportation US /ˈslipɚ/ UK /ˈsliːpə/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun one who sleeps, a sleeping car, or an unexpected success The low-budget film became the sleeper hit of the year. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · one who sleeps, a sleeping... dormantsurpriseunderdogberthtiedark horse Word family Related forms sleepsleepingasleep Appears in Proverbs (1) See all Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream Etymology AI details From sleep (from Old English slæpan, of Germanic origin) plus the agentive suffix -er. slæpan Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Transportation Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # sleeper **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈslipɚ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈsliːpə/ ## Meanings 1. one who sleeps, a sleeping car, or an unexpected success ## Examples - The low-budget film became the sleeper hit of the year. ## Synonyms - dormant - surprise - underdog - berth - tie - dark horse ## Related Forms - sleep - sleeping - asleep ## Roots and Affixes - Root: slæpan ## Etymology From sleep (from Old English slæpan, of Germanic origin) plus the agentive suffix -er. ## AI Etymology Sleeper comes from sleep (from Old English slæpan, of Germanic origin) plus the agentive suffix -er. The historical chain includes Old English slæpan. The formation is best read as suffixal and borrowed: the word sleeper carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "one who sleeps, a sleeping car, or an unexpected success". Related English forms include sleep, sleeping, and asleep. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Transportation - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown