The word 'tripe' entered English in the 13th century from the Old French term of the same spelling, which referred to the entrails or intestines of an animal. The Old French word itself derived from an unattested Latin term, likely trippa, whose origins are obscure but may be connected to other Romance language words for offal. The literal meaning of edible animal stomach led, by the late 16th century, to the figurative and derogatory sense describing ideas or writing considered worthless or nonsensical, drawing a direct analogy between low-value food and low-value content.

This word is a simplex loanword from French. Its spelling and form are not productively composed of separable English morphemes.