/skɪp/
[verb] To move forward with light, quick jumps, alternating feet; or to leave out or pass over something without doing it.
'Skip' likely comes from an Old Norse word meaning to leap — the same family that gave sailors the word 'skipper' for their captain.
The word 'skip' first appeared in English around the 13th century, most likely borrowed from Old Norse 'skopa', meaning to run or leap quickly, or possibly from a related Scandinavian root. The Norse influence on English during this period was enormous, as Viking settlers had established communities across large parts of northern and eastern England, and their everyday speech blended steadily into the local language. Words related to movement, weather, and seafaring were especially common borrowings from this era.
In its earliest English uses, 'skip' described a light, bounding movement — the kind of joyful hop that a child or a young animal might make. This physical sense was vivid and immediate, and it stuck. Middle English speakers used forms like 'skippen' to describe creatures darting quickly from place to place. The word had an energy to it, a sense of something nimble and unweighted, and this quality helped it survive and spread through the centuries.
Over time, 'skip' developed a more abstract meaning: to pass over something, to leave a section out, or to miss a step in a sequence. This shift is a classic example of how physical metaphors become intellectual ones. Just as you might physically jump over a stone in a path, you could 'skip' a chapter in a book or 'skip' an appointment. By the 16th and 17th centuries, this figurative sense was well established in everyday English writing and speech.
The word is also closely connected to 'skipper', the captain of a ship or the leader of a sports team. This comes from Middle Dutch 'schipper', derived from 'schip' meaning ship — so 'skipper' and 'skip' are near cousins in sound but actually travel separate etymological roads. The resemblance made the words feel like a natural pair in English, though their roots are distinct. 'Schip' in Middle Dutch came from Proto-Germanic 'skipam', which also gave English the word 'ship' via Old English 'scip'.
In more recent times, 'skip' has taken on new lives in modern technology and culture. To 'skip' an advertisement on a streaming platform, or to 'skip' a song on a playlist, perfectly extends the old sense of leaping past something unwanted. There is also the British English use of 'skip' as a noun for a large open metal container used for rubbish — this comes from an entirely different root, the Old Norse 'skeppa', a basket or bushel measure, which evolved through dialect English into its modern industrial meaning. One small word, then, has gathered several distinct lives around it, each reflecting a different corner of human experience.