steak

The story

1. Old Norse · derived fromsteik“roast; meat roasted on a stick”
2. Middle English · inherited fromsteike
3. English todaysteak

From Middle English steike, from Old Norse steik (“roast; meat roasted on a stick”). The verb is either from the noun or from steikja (“to roast”). The modern pronunciation shows an irregular change of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language; contrast this with the development of other words such as speak and wreak.