suck

The story

1. Proto-Germanic*sūkaną
2. Proto-West Germanic*sūkan
3. Old Englishsūcan
4. Middle Englishsouken
5. English todaysuck

From Middle English souken, suken, from Old English sūcan (“to suck”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūkan, from Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck, suckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sewg-, *sewk- (“to suck”). Cognate with Scots souke (“to suck”), obsolete Dutch zuiken (“to suck”), Limburgish zuken, zoeken (“to suck”). Akin also to Old English sūgan (“to suck”), West Frisian sûge, sûge (“to suck”), Dutch zuigen (“to suck”), German saugen (“to suck”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål suge (“to suck”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish suga (“to suck”), Icelandic sjúga (“to suck”), Latin sūgō (“suck”), Welsh sugno (“suck”). Related to soak.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 9th c. To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast).
• from 11th c. To perform such an action; to feed from a breast or teat.
• from 11th c. To put the mouth or lips to (a breast, a parent etc.) to draw in milk.
• from 14th c. To extract, draw in (a substance) from or out of something.
• from 14th c. To work the lips and tongue on (an object) to extract moisture or nourishment; to absorb (something) in the mouth.
• from 17th c. To pull (something) in a given direction, especially without direct contact.
• from 20th c. To perform fellatio.
• from 20th c. To be inferior or objectionable: a general term of disparagement, sometimes used with at to indicate a particular area of deficiency.