caper [L16th] Two frisky animals are behind the word caper. It was adapted from capriole [L16th], a movement performed in riding in which the horse leaps from the ground and kicks out with its hind legs. Its origin was Italian capriola ‘leap’, based on Latin caper ‘goat’. Members of the underworld seem to have been the first to use the word in the sense ‘an illicit or ridiculous activity’ in the mid 19th century. Edible capers [LME] are something quite different—the word comes from Greek kapparis. See also cab.