Etymology

creek

C3R1E1E1K5

Today it means: A small inlet, often saltwater, leading to the sea or to the main channel of a river, especially a river estuary. Full definition →

Middle English crike ← Old Norse kriki ← Proto-Germanic *krikjô
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creek · noun1

  1. Middle Dutch · derived fromkrēke
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ger-“to turn, to wind”
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*krikjô
  4. Old Norse · derived fromkriki
  5. Middle English · inherited fromcrike
  6. English todaycreek

From Middle English crike, probably from Old Norse kriki, from Proto-Germanic *krikjô, variant of krekô, from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, to wind”); the modern form creek (already late Middle English creke) either reflects open-syllable lengthening of Middle English /i/ or reborrowing from Middle Dutch krēke., Compare typologically English bight, akin to bend, bow. See also Old Dutch creka, crika (“inlet, cove, creek”), Medieval Latin creca, crica, kríkr (“angle, corner, nook, bay”), Old Norse kraki (“pole with a hook, anchor”), and possibly Old Norse krókr (“hook, bend, bight”). Modern cognates include West Frisian kreek (“creek”), Dutch kreek (“creek, cove, inlet, bight”), and French crique (“cove”) (borrowed from Germanic). Early British colonists of Australia and the Americas used the term in the usual British way, to name inlets; as settlements followed the inlets upstream and inland, the names were retained and creek came to be used to refer to any small waterway. A similar semantic development occurred in Dutch and French, where the word originally meant "bay" but came to mean "stream" especially in the French and Dutch colonies (French Guiana, Dutch Guiana and Indonesia).

Creek · noun, proper noun, adjective2

* As an English surname, from Creake in Norfolk, a variant of the noun crag (“steep rugged cliff”). * Also as an English surname, from the archaic noun cratch (“crib, manger”). * As a German surname, Americanized from Krieg (“war, warfare”), Krück, Kruck (see Krug (“jug”) and Krücke (“crutch”)), Krick. * As a Dutch surname, Americanized from Kreek (from the noun kreek (“creek”), see creek) and Kriek (from kriek (“cherry”)). * The Native American tribe name is likely shortened from Ocheese Creek (the Hitchiti name for the body of water known today as the Ocmulgee River).

Creek · proper noun3

Blend of Craig + Tweek (an alteration of tweak).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*ger- all →

crouchcramgrapplecrutchcrinklescratcratchcroche

First known use, by meaning

  • from 2005 The ship of characters Craig Tucker and Tweek Tweak from the South Park series.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.