Etymology

shriek

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Today it means: A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like. Full definition →

Middle English scrycke ← Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skrīkijaną
  2. Middle English · inherited fromscrycke
  3. English todayshriek

From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earlier screak, skricke (before 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a North Germanic/Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Danish skrige, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*skrīkijaną all →

screech

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.