carp

See also: Carp, CARP, and -carp

English
WOTD – 21 January 2024

Pronunciation
A common carp (Cyprinus carpio; etymology 1, sense 1).

Etymology 1

From Late Middle English carpe (“the common carp (Cyprinus carpio)”),[1] from Old French carpe, from Late Latin carpa, possibly from Proto-West Germanic *karpo (possibly due to the introduction from the fish from the Danube into England in the 14th century;[2] whence Middle Low German karpe and Old High German charpho, karpho); further etymology unknown.[3]

Noun

carp (plural carp or carps)

  1. Any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae; specifically the common carp, Cyprinus carpio.
    • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter VIII, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, pages 161–162:
      The Carp is a ſtately, a good, and a ſubtle fiſh, a fiſh that hath not (as it is ſaid) been long in England, but ſaid to be by one Mr. Maſcall (a Gentleman then living at Plumſted in Suſſex) brought into this Nation: […] Carps and Loches are obſerved to breed ſeveral months in one year, vvhich moſt other fiſh do not, and it is the rather believed, becauſe you ſhall ſcarce or never take a Male Carp vvithout a Melt, or a Female vvithout a Roe or Spavvn; […]
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
Cyprinus carpio — see common carp

Etymology 2

The verb is derived from Middle English carpen, karpe (“to chat, converse, talk; to chatter, gossip; to ask; to cry out, wail; to find fault, carp; to relate, tell; to recite; to sing”),[4] and then partly:[5]

  • from Old Norse karpa (“to boast, brag; to dispute, quarrel”), further etymology unknown; and
  • from, or influenced by, Latin carpere, the present active infinitive of carpō (“to harvest, pick, pluck; to criticize, revile, slander, carp at”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to harvest, pluck”).

The noun is derived from the verb.[6] (Middle English carp, karp (“conversation, discourse, talking; spoken or written message or statement; meaning; news; poem; song; story”), from Old Norse karp (“bragging”),[7] did not survive into modern English.)

Verb

carp (third-person singular simple present carps, present participle carping, simple past and past participle carped)

  1. (intransitive)
    1. To criticize or complain about a fault, especially for frivolous or petty reasons; to cavil.
    2. (obsolete) To speak, to talk; also, to talk about a subject in speech or writing.
    3. (obsolete) To talk much but to little purpose; to chatter, to prattle.
      Synonyms: blabber, prate; see also Thesaurus:prattle
    4. (obsolete) Of a bird: to sing; of a person (such as a minstrel): to sing or recite.
  2. (transitive, obsolete)
    1. To say or tell (something).
    2. To find fault with (someone or something); to censure, to criticize.
      Synonyms: reprehend, reprove, take exception
      • 1592 January 6 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “To the Right Worthy and Noble Knight Sir Walter Raleigh, […]”, in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, published 1595, →OCLC, signature A2, recto:
        [W]ith your good countenance protect against the malice of euill mouthes, vvhich are alvvaies vvide open to carpe at and miſconstrue my ſimple meaning.
      • 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “Grave Speeches, and Wittie Apothegmes of Woorthie Personages of This Realme in Former Times”, in Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 177:
        Albeit I doe knovve they [the speeches] vvill lie open to the cenſure of the youth of our time, vvho for the moſt part, are ſo over-gulled vvith ſelf-liking, that they are more then giddy in admiring themſelves, and carping vvhatſoever hath beene done or ſaide heeretofore, Nevertheleſſe I hope that all are not of one humour, and doubt not, but that there is diverſitie of taſtes, as vvas among Horaces gueſts; […]
      • 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 104:
        [W]hen I ſpoke, / My honeſt homely vvords vvere carp'd, and cenſur'd, / For vvant of Courtly ſtile: […]
Conjugation
Conjugation of carp
infinitive (to) carp
present tense past tense
1st-person singular carp carped
2nd-person singular carp, carpest† carped, carpedst†
3rd-person singular carps, carpeth† carped
plural carp
subjunctive carp carped
imperative carp —
participles carping carped

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Translations

Noun

carp (plural carps)

  1. An instance of, or speech, complaining or criticizing about a fault, especially for frivolous or petty reasons; a cavil.
Translations
instance of, or speech, complaining or criticizing about a fault, especially for frivolous or petty reasons — see cavil

References
  1. “carpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “carp”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. “carp, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “carp1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. “carpen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. “carp, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “carp2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. “carp, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  7. “carp, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).

Pronunciation

Noun

carp m (plural carps)

  1. carpus

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French carpe.

Noun

carp n (uncountable)

  1. carpus

Declension
declension of carp (singular only)
singular
n gender indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) carp carpul
genitive/dative (unui) carp carpului
vocative carpule
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