Definition of leap

The origin of the word "leap" can be traced back to Old English, as the Anglo-Saxons spoke a language known as Old English. In Old English, the word was spelled "hlæp" and pronounced with an "hl" sound, similar to the modern German word "halb." The Old English word "hlæp" came from the Proto-Germanic word "*hlaph," which meant "jump" or "leap." The Germanic word is thought to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*kel-," which meant the same. In Proto-Indo-European, the word was pronounced similarly to the modern English word "cell." Over time, the Old English word "hlæp" evolved into Middle English and then Old French, where it was spelled "leap" or "lepes." The word retained its original meaning throughout its journey to modern English, where it is still used to describe a sudden, quick movement by an animal, person, or object, such as a lion's leap or a leaper in a sports event. Interestingly, the Modern Scots dialect has maintained the Old English pronunciation of the word "hlæp," which is spelled "lap" in Scots and pronounced as "lap" or "hlap," depending on the region. Meanwhile, in some dialects of Gaelic spoken in Scotland and Ireland, the word is spelled "laomh" or "laom," meaning "jump" or "leap."