carp

English

WOTD – 21 January 2024

Pronunciation

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

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːp/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹp/
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)p

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)

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; […]
- 1988, “Mayhem Maybe”, in Ian Anderson (music), 20 Years of Jethro Tull, performed by Jethro Tull:
  Like scaly carp and feathered swan
  To nature's world we do belong.
- 2022 June 22, Patti Wetli, “Introducing Copi, the Fish Formerly Known as Asian Carp”, in WTTW‎^[1]:
  Illinois took the initiative in renaming the Asian carp given the state’s position as a sort of “last stand” against the carp entering the Great Lakes.
- 2023 May 18, David McElhenney, “13 of Japan’s best castles”, in CNN‎^[2]:
  Matsumoto Castle exhibits the architecture of both war and peace, from its steep wooden stairs, hidden inner levels and archer’s perches to the moon-viewing room added in 1630, which also offers a vantage point for viewing the brocaded carps and ducks residing in the castle moat.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Welsh: carp

Translations

any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae

Abenaki: wôbhagas
Afrikaans: karp
Albanian: krap (sq)
Arabic: شَبُّوط m (šabbūṭ)
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܫܒܘܛܐ m (šabbūṭā)
Armenian: ծածան (hy) (cacan)
Middle Armenian: շապութ (šaputʻ)
Asturian: carpa f
Azerbaijani: karp (az), çəki balığı, sazan (az)
Basque: karpa
Belarusian: карп m (karp)
Bulgarian: шара́н (bg) m (šarán)
Catalan: carpa (ca) f
Cebuano: karpa
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鯉魚 / 鲤鱼 (zh) (lǐyú)
Czech: kapr (cs) m
Danish: karpe c
Dutch: karper (nl) m
Esperanto: karpo (eo)
Faroese: karpa f
Finnish: karppi (fi)
French: carpe (fr) f
Galician: carpa (gl) f
Georgian: ჭანარი (č̣anari), კობრი (ḳobri)
German: Karpfen (de) m
Greek: κυπρίνος (el) m (kyprínos)
Ancient: κυπρῖνος m (kuprînos)
Hebrew: קרפיון (he) m (qarpion)
Hungarian: ponty (hu)
Icelandic: vatnakarfi m
Ido: karpo (io)
Indonesian: ikan mas, karper (id)
Irish: carbán m
Italian: carpa (it) f, reina f
Japanese: 鯉 (ja) (こい, koi), コイ (ja) (koi)
Kazakh: тұқы (tūqy)
Korean: 잉어(鯉魚) (ing'eo)
Latin: carpa f
Macedonian: крап (mk) m (krap)
Malay: ikan mas, kap (ms)
Manchu: ᡶᡠᠰᡝᠯᡳ (fuseli)
Maori: morihana
Norman: carpe f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: karpe m, karpefisk m

Nynorsk: karpe f
Nuosu: ꆹꒄꉛ (li yup hxe)
Ottoman Turkish: سازان (sazan)
Pannonian Rusyn: потька f (potʹka)
Persian: کپور (fa) (kapur)
Polish: karp (pl) m
Portuguese: carpa (pt) f
Romanian: crap (ro) m
Russian: карп (ru) m (karp), саза́н (ru) m (sazán) (wild carp)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: кра̏п m, ша̀ран m

Roman: krȁp (sh) m, šàran (sh) m
Slovak: kapor (sk) m
Slovene: krap (sl) m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: karpa f

Upper Sorbian: karp m
Spanish: carpa (es) f
Swedish: karp (sv) c
Tagalog: karpa
Tamil: சேல் (ta) (cēl), கெண்டைமீன் (ta) (keṇṭaimīṉ)
Thai: ไน (th) (nai)
Turkish: sazan (tr)
Ukrainian: ко́роп (uk) m (kórop)
Vietnamese: cá chép (vi) (𩵜鮿)
Volapük: karip (vo)
Yiddish: קאַרפּ m (karp)
Zazaki: kapır, sazan

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)

(intransitive)
1. To criticize or complain about a fault, especially for frivolous or petty reasons; to cavil. [(often) with at]
  - 1561 May 16 (Gregorian calendar), Ihon Caluin [i.e., John Calvin], “That there is Taught in the Scriptures One Essence of God from the Very Creation, which Essence Conteineth in It Thre Persons”, in [Thomas Norton], transl., The Institution of Christian Religion, […], London: […] Reinolde [i.e., Reginald?] Wolfe & Richarde Harison, →OCLC, 1st book, folio 34, recto:
    Here agayne Seruetto carpeth, yͭ God did beare the perſon of an Angel. As thoughe the Prophete did not confirme that whiche Moſes had ſaied: why doeſt thou aſke me of my name?
  - c. 1580s (date written), C[hristoper] M[arlowe], “Elegia. 15. Ad inuidos, qaod fama poetarum sit perennis.”, in Ouids Elegies: Three Bookes. […], Middlebourgh [i.e., London: […] Thomas Cotes?], published c. 1640, →OCLC, signature [B6], verso:
    Enuie vvhy carpeſt thou my time is ſpent ſo ill, / And termſt my vvorkes fruites of an idle quill.
  - 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.
  - a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “The Eighth Sermon. S. Matth[ew] 7. 1.”, in Several Sermons against Evil-Speaking, London: […] Brabazon Aylmer, […], published 1678, →OCLC, pages 58–59:
    [I]f vve ſhould never cenſure vvithout great Reaſon or neceſſity, hovv ſeldom ſhould vve do it? […] [D]o vve not eagerly ſearch after, and greedily embrace all occaſions to do it? Is it not a pleaſant entertainment to us, to be carping and cavelling at any Body vve meet, at any thing vve ſee done?
  - 1785 April 21 (date written), Robert Burns, “To the Same [Epistle to J[ohn] L[aprai]k, an Old Scottish Bard]”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 95:
    My vvorthy friend, ne'er grudge an' carp, / Tho' Fortune uſe you hard an' ſharp; / Come, kittle up your moorland harp / VVi' gleeſome touch!
  - 1879, Matthew Arnold, “Falkland”, in Mixed Essays, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 207:
    [Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of] Clarendon's touch, where in his memoirs he speaks of Falkland, is simpler than in the History. But we will not carp at this great writer and faithful friend.
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
  - 1521–1522, John Skelton, “Here after Followeth a Litel Boke Called Colyn Cloute, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 332, lines 548–552:
    And some of them barke, / Clatter and carpe / Of that heresy arte / Called Wicleuista, / The deuelysshe dogmatista; […]
  - 1557 August 10 (Gregorian calendar), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; Thomas Wyatt; et al.], “A Praise of Maistresse R.”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC, folio 84, verso:
    And therwithall came curiouſneſſe and carped out of frame. / The audience laught to heare the ſtrife as they beheld the ſame.
  - 1825, T[homas] Doubleday, Babington. A Tragedy, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 54:
    Psha! thou carpest and carpest, and yet tell'st nought; in a word, What say'st thou to him?
4. (obsolete) Of a bird: to sing; of a person (such as a minstrel): to sing or recite.
  - a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Against a Comely Coystrowne, that Curyowsly Chawntyd, and Curryshly Cowntred, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 15, lines 12–14:
    Hys hart is to hy to haue any hap; / But for in his gamut carp that he can, / Lo, Jak wold be a jentylman!
  - 1802, “The Lochmaben Harper”, in Walter Scott, editor, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: […], volume I, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] James Ballantyne, for T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and sold by Manners and Miller, and A[rchibald] Constable, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Historical Ballads), page 67:
    Then aye he harped, and aye he carped, / Till a' the Lordlings footed the floor; / But an' the music was sae sweet, / The groom had nae mind o' the stable door.
(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
  - 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, [https:// 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*
	present tense	past tense
infinitive	(to) carp

1st-person singular	carp	carped
2nd-person singular	carp, carpest^†	carped, carpedst^†
3rd-person singular	carps, carpeth^†	carped
plural	carp	carped

subjunctive	carp	carped

imperative	carp	—

participles	carping	carped