A clipper was a very fast multiple-masted sailing ship of the 19th century. Generally narrow for their length, limited in their bulk freight carrying capacities, and small by later 19th century standards, the clippers had a large relative sail area. "Clipper ships" were mostly products of British and American shipyards, though France, the Netherlands (the Dutch-built "Telanak", built in 1859 for the tea and passenger trade to Java) and other nations also produced a number of them. Clippers sailed all over the world, primarily on the trade routes between Britain and its colonies in the east, in the trans-Atlantic trade, and in the New York-to-San Francisco route round The Horn during the Gold Rush.

Origins
The often quoted derivation of the word, that the vessels "clipped" time off a voyage, is probably incorrect. However, the example of the other class of vessel built for speed, the cutter, reminds us that the cutting notion may have been seen as relevant. Clipper bows were distinctively narrow and heavily raked forward which allowed them to rapidly cut or clip through the waves. One of the meanings of clip, from the seventeenth century onward, possibly from the sound of wings, is to fly or move quickly. The term clipper was originally applied to a fast horse and most likely derives from the term clip, meaning speed, as in "going at a good clip". The term clipper seems to be much the same as flier. The Oxford English Dictionary gives its earliest English quotation as from 1830. Cutler reports that the first newspaper appearance was in 1835, but that by then the term was apparently familiar.

In the United States the term "clipper," described the Baltimore Clipper, a topsail schooner that was developed in Chesapeake Bay before the Revolution and was lightly armed in the War of 1812, sailing under Letters of Marque and Reprisal, when the type—exemplified by the Chasseur, launched at Fells Point, Maryland, 1814— became known for its incredible speed; a deep draft enabled the Baltimore clipper to sail close to the wind (Villiers 1973). Clippers, outrunning the British blockade of Baltimore, came to be recognized as ships built for speed rather than cargo space; while traditional merchant ships were accustomed to average speeds of under 5 knots (9 km/h), clippers aimed at 9 knots (17 km/h) or better. Sometimes these ships could reach 20 knots (37 km/h).