Meaning

noun a small drink of liquor

noun (offensive slang) offensive term for a person of Japanese descent

noun the taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth

originFrom late Middle English nippen, probably of Low German or Dutch origin, probably a byform of earlier *knippen (suggested by the derivative Middle English knippette (“pincers”)), from Middle Low German knîpen, from Old Saxon *knīpan, from Proto-West Germanic *knīpan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *knīpaną (“to pinch”). Related to Dutch nijpen, knijpen (“to pinch”), Danish nive (“pinch”); Swedish…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0