nep

Meaning

Noun

• Catmint, catnip; Nepeta cataria.
• A knot in a fibre of cotton.

Origin

• From Middle English neppe, nepe, nepte, nept, from Old English nepte, nefte, from Latin nepeta. Compare Dutch neppe, nippe.
• Perhaps a variant of nap for knap, from Middle English knep, kneppe, knappe, a conflation of Old English cnep, cnæp, cnæpp and Old Norse knappr, both from Proto-Germanic *knappaz, *knappô, from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ-, from Proto-Indo-European *gen-. Compare also Old Norse hnappr. Related to knob.