Hoppers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of insect known for its jumping ability, often found in grasslands and gardens
2. A term for those who move or jump quickly, often with agility
3. A slang term for people who frequently change their location or activities, particularly in social contexts

Etymology: Plural of "hopper", and the sense given here is the insect one: a jumper, from the verb "hop". The noun was built in Old English as "hoppa", meaning one who hops, and the same formation survives in Dutch "hopper" and Swedish "hoppare". Middle English "hoppere" grew out of "hoppe", a form still preserved in "grashoppe", the older name for the grasshopper. Here the story is less about a single coinage than about a word that shrank. The insect sense sits inside a family of ordinary agent nouns, so a hopper was once anything or anyone that hopped, and the grasshopper's name carries the older form that gave rise to the word.

Synonyms: jumpers, leapers