Atop
/əˈtɒp/noun
On or at the highest part of something.
Did you know?The word combines the unstressed preposition “a-,” descended from Old English “on,” with “top,” a Germanic word for a summit or tuft.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*tuppaz
“A tuft, projecting end, or top”
Old English
OE
top
“A tuft, summit, or crown of the head”
Middle English
ME
atop
“On top of or at the summit of something”
14th Century
English
atop
“Above; on the highest part”
Modern English
English
atop
“On or at the top of something”