holk

H4O1L1K5

noun

A hollow cavity.

OriginMiddle English holk ← Old English holc ← Proto-West Germanic *holuk →
Scrabble 11
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Meanings

holk1

nounholk (plural holks)

plural holks · alternative Northern England Scotland howk · alternative Northern England Scotland houk

  1. UKdialectalA hollow cavity.

holk2

verbholk (third-person singular simple present holks, present participle holking, simple past and past participle holked)

present singular third person holks · participle present holking · participle past holked · past holked · alternative Northern England Scotland howk · alternative Northern England Scotland houk

  1. UKdialectaltransitiveTo dig out; make hollow; hollow out.
  2. UKdialectaltransitiveTo dig; dig into; pierce; penetrate; investigate; poke.
  3. UKdialectaltransitiveTo dig up; excavate.
    1 more example

    The Sessioune perceiving gryt perell through the burieing of people in the kirkyaird of thair perroche kirk and within the kirk itself by raising of grene graivis and holking under the kirk vall undermynding of the samyne ordanis fra this furth that na persone presume to mak graivis within the precinct thairof or yit to burie any persone within the boundis of the samine.

    1908, Aberdeen University Studies, volume 35, University of Aberdeen, page 96

Origin

holk · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱel-“to cover, hide”
  2. Proto-Germanic*hulukaz“a hollow”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*holuk
  4. Old Englishholc
  5. Middle Englishholk
  6. Englishholk

From Middle English holk, from Old English holc, holoc (“hole, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *holuk, from Proto-Germanic *hulukaz (“a hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide”). Equivalent to hole + -ock (diminutive ending). Cognate with Low German holke, hölke (“small hole”), German Holk (“a type of flat-bottomed barge”), Swedish holk (“nest, birdhouse”), dialectal Norwegian holk, hylke (“wooden barrel, cask”), Icelandic hólkur (“hollow cylinder or tube”). Related to hulk.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

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holk · verb

  1. Proto-West Germanic*holukōn
  2. Old English*holcian
  3. Middle Englishholken
  4. Englishholk

From Middle English holken, from Old English *holcian (attested in āholcian, āhlocian (“to dig out”), from Proto-West Germanic *holukōn, derived from the noun above. Cognate with Middle Low German holken, hȫlken (“to hollow out”), German Low German uthöhlken (“to hollow out”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

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Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

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Cite this entry
APA

holk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holk

MLA

“holk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holk. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holk,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holk.

Source: holk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.