Other forms: napes
The nape is the back of the neck, below the hairline. The nape of her neck, hair at the nape, a kiss on the nape.
It appears almost only in the phrase the nape of the neck, which is doubly redundant and completely standard. It is where a cat carries a kitten and where hair is gathered in a low bun.
1nounnapeThe back of the neck, below the hairline.
“He felt the cold wind on the nape of his neck.”
nape is a body part.
Middle English nape, of unknown origin, with no clear relatives in other languages.
Proto-Germanic
*hnappaz
Frankish
*hnapp
Old French
hanap — goblet
Middle English
nape
English, today
nape
Built from
From Middle English nape, naape, of unknown origin. Possibly from Old French hanap (“goblet”), from Frankish hnapp, from Proto-Germanic hnappaz (> Old English hnæpp, hnæp (“cup, bowl, goblet”)), as there is a hollow at the base of the skull. More at nap.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA