Etymology

seek

S1E1E1K5

Today it means: To try to find; to look for; to search for. Full definition →

Middle English seke ← Old English sēċan ← Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan
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seek · verb, noun1

  1. Old English · inherited fromsēcð
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*séh₂gyeti“to seek out”
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*sōkijaną“to seek”
  4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*sōkijan
  5. Old English · inherited fromsēċan
  6. Middle English · inherited fromseke
  7. English todayseek

From Middle English seke, seken, from Old English sēċan, sēċean, sœ̄ċan, from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti (“to seek out”), from *seh₂g- (“to follow, trace”). Cognates Cognate with Yola zeek (“to seek”), North Frisian schük, sjuk, säke (“to search, seek”), Saterland Frisian säike (“to search, seek”), West Frisian sykje (“to seek”), Alemannic German sueche, süeche (“to search, seek”), Bavarian suacha, suachn (“to search”), Central Franconian söke (“to search”), Cimbrian züuchan (“to seek”), Dutch zoeken (“to seek”), Low German söken (“to seek”), German suchen (“to seek”), Luxembourgish sichen (“to seek; to fetch”), Vilamovian zihia, zihja (“to seek”), Yiddish זוכן (zukhn, “to search, seek”), Danish søge (“to seek; to apply”), Faroese søkja (“to seek”), Icelandic sækja (“to seek”), Norwegian Bokmål søke (“to seek; to apply”), Norwegian Nynorsk søka, søke, søkja, søkje (“to seek; to apply”), Swedish söka (“to search”), Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan, “to seek”); also Cornish hedhes (“to reach; to achieve; to manage”), Welsh haeddu (“to deserve, merit”), Latin sāgiō (“to perceive quickly or keenly with the senses”), Ancient Greek ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to go before, precede; to lead; to believe, hold”), Albanian gjegj (“to answer; to obey”), Hittite 𒊭𒀀𒆠𒄑𒍣 (ša-a-ki-ez-zi, “to seek out”). The Middle English and later Modern English hard /k/ derives from Old English sēcð, the third person singular.

Seek · proper noun2

* As a North/Low German surname, from Seek, variant of Seeck, shortened from compound names containing the element Sieg (“victory”) (as in Siegfried) or siech (“ill”). * As a Chinese surname, Romanized from 薛 (xuē), see Xue.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishsēċan all →

beseechseech

Proto-Germanic*sōkijaną all →

ransack

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.