keek

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*kīkaną“to look”
2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*kīkan
3. Old Saxon · derived from*kīkan“to look”
4. Middle Low German · derived fromkîken“to look, peep”
5. Middle Dutch · derived fromkiken
6. Middle English · inherited fromkyken
7. English todaykeek

From Middle English kyken, kiken, keken (“to look, peep”), probably from Middle Dutch kiken, kieken or Middle Low German kîken (“to look, peep”), from Old Saxon *kīkan (“to look”), from Proto-West Germanic *kīkan, from Proto-Germanic *kīkaną (“to look”). Cognate with Dutch kijken (“to look”), German Low German kieken (“to look”), Estonian kiikama (“to look, to peek”), German kieken (“to look”), Danish kigge, kikke (“to look, peep”), Swedish kika (“to peep, peek, keek, pry”), Icelandic kíkja (“to look, check”). Perhaps related to kick. The words peek, keek and peep were used more or less synonymously in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Words from the same roots