What does tipped mean?
Tipped is most often the past tense and past participle of tip, but it can also function as an adjective. Its basic physical sense is to turn or incline something so that one end rises: a person might tip a cup, tilt a chair, or tip a cart onto level ground. The word can also mean to overturn or knock something over. In another common sense, something is tipped when it has a point or fitting at its end, as with a tipped walking stick. Tipped additionally carries the informal sense of giving someone a gratuity, as in a customer tipping a waiter, and the related informal sense of informing or warning someone, usually expressed as tipped off. These varied meanings make tipped especially useful in descriptions of movement, physical design, money, and conversation. Although its basic sound and grammatical use are identical across standard British and American English, some speakers prefer alternatives to the informal sense of providing advance information.
Inclined or turned at one end; fitted with a tip or point.
"He wore a cap tipped back from his forehead."
The participial use is especially common in descriptions of clothing, containers, and objects resting at an angle.
The past tense and past participle of tip: to tilt, overturn, inform, or give someone a gratuity.
"The customer tipped the waiter after the meal."
The meanings involving information and money are informal, although they are widely understood.
One little word carries several surprisingly different ideas: leaning something, putting a point on it, giving someone a gratuity, and giving advance warning.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does tipped come from?
Tipped is the regular past-tense and past-participle form of the English word tip, whose precise origin is uncertain. Its older physical senses referred to a projecting point or upper end and to raising or inclining one end of an object. Over time, the family developed related meanings involving money given as a gratuity and advance information. The shared root also appears in words such as tiptoe and tipsy, although the exact historical paths of these derivations are debated.
Related word forms
How tipped is actually used
The physical senses are neutral and standard in British and American English. The sense meaning to inform or warn is informal and especially associated with North American usage; in British English, other phrasings may sometimes be preferred.
Easily confused with tipped
Tip is the base verb and noun, while tipped is its past tense, past participle, or a participial adjective.