Nipperkin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small cup or drinking vessel, typically holding a small quantity of spirits or liquor
2. A diminutive cup or container used for serving and consuming alcoholic beverages in limited amounts
3. A tiny receptacle designed to hold a small portion of strong drink or other potable liquids

Etymology: A nipperkin is a small measure of liquor, roughly a half-pint, and the name is built from three old English pieces. The first is "nip," a dram or sip of strong drink, which is itself the base of the verb to nip in its sense of taking a quick swallow. The middle element is the "-er" that often appears in words for containers or measures, and the ending "-kin" is a diminutive suffix, the same one found in the rarer measure "kilderkin," a cask of about eighteen gallons. Put together, the word describes a little vessel of liquor, a diminutive of a small measure. The source-derived account here is probable rather than certain, since the "-er" link is not fully settled, so readers should treat the middle element as the least secure part of the breakdown. What is clear is that the word belongs to the same family of drinking vocabulary that gave English a whole set of tiny measures, with the diminutive ending doing the work of saying "small."