Atop

Part of speech: preposition

Pronunciation: /əˈtɒp/

Definitions

1. Resting on the uppermost surface of an item or location
2. Situated at the highest level of a structure or object
3. Located on the very upper part of something without anything above it

Etymology: "Atop" is a simple compound: the prefix "a-", meaning "on," joined to the noun "top." Its ancestry of that prefix runs back to Old English "on," the same word that survives today as the preposition "on," so "atop" is in effect "on top" with the two words fused into one. The prefix itself has an unexpectedly long pedigree. Its path runs from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Germanic and Old English, and in Middle English it had already reduced to the unstressed "a-" that appears in other words such as "aside" and "ahead." Around the same time, "top" was making its own way into the language, so the two pieces sat side by side for centuries before merging. Because the parts are so transparent, "atop" is a plain example of how English builds prepositions from a locative prefix and a noun, with nothing hidden in its history.

Synonyms: on, above, over, upon, on top of

Antonyms: beneath, below, under, underneath, down