seep

Variant of sipe, from Middle English sipen, from Old English sipian, from Proto-Germanic *sīpōną, frequentative of *sīpaną (compare Middle Dutch sīpen (“to drip”), archaic German seifen (“to trickle blood”)), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *sib- (“to pour out, drip, trickle”) (compare Latin sēbum (“suet, tallow”), Ancient Greek εἴβω (eíbō, “to drop, drip”). See soap.

• enPR: sēp, IPA^(key): /siːp/
• Rhymes: -iːp

seep (third-person singular simple present seeps, present participle seeping, simple past and past participle seeped)

1. (intransitive) To ooze or pass slowly through pores or other small openings, and in overly small quantities; said of liquids, etc.

   Water has seeped through the roof.

   The water steadily seeped in through the thirl.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To enter or penetrate slowly; to spread or diffuse.

   Woe seeped through her heart thinking of what had befallen their ethnic group.

   Fear began to seep into the local community over the contamination of their fishpond.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To diminish or wane away slowly.

   The resistance movement against the invaders had slowly seeped away.

• leak

seep (plural seeps)

1. A small spring, pool, or other spot where liquid from the ground (e.g. water, petroleum or tar) has oozed to the surface; a place of seeping.
2. Moisture, liquid, gas, etc. that seeps out; a seepage.
3. The seeping away of a liquid, etc.
4. A seafloor vent.

• sip
• siphon

• Sepe, eeps, pees

From Dutch zeep.

seep (plural sepe)

1. soap

• → Xhosa: isepha
• → Zulu: insipho

Borrowed from Middle Low German sêpe.

seep (genitive seebi, partitive seepi)

1. soap

• (Revived) IPA^(key): /siːp/

seep

1. river