Meanings
peek1
verbpeek (third-person singular simple present peeks, present participle peeking, simple past and past participle peeked)
present singular third person peeks · participle present peeking · participle past peeked · past peeked
- informalintransitiveTo be only slightly, partially visible, as if peering out from a hiding place.
Her brown skin peeked through the empty gap in her clothing.
2012, Michelle Monkou, If I Had You, →ISBN1 more example
A pale strip of white skin peeked out from under his waistband.
2012, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Going Down: Oral Sex Stories, →ISBN - informalintransitiveespecially first-person shootersvideo gamesTo briefly move out of cover (to gather visual information).
Sniper watching the site; don't peek.
peek2
noun
- informalmisspellingMisspelling of pique.
PEEK3
noun
- abbreviationacronymAcronym of polyetheretherketone.
Peek4
proper noun
- A surname.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishpepen“to peep”
- Middle English*peken
- Englishpeek
From Middle English *peken, piken, pyken (“to peep”), probably a fusion of Middle English pepen (“to peep”) and keken, kiken (“to keek, look, spy”), equivalent to a blend of peep + keek. Perhaps also possibly a metathetic alteration of Middle English kepen, kipen, kypen (“to keep, look, observe, watch”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans loer
- loerTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Bulgarian надничам
- надничам (nadničam)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Chinese Cantonese 偷窺 /偷窥, 偷睇
- 偷窺 /偷窥 (tau¹ kwai¹)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- 偷睇 (tau¹ tai²)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- 𥊙 (zong¹)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Chinese Mandarin 窺視 /窥视, 偷看
- 窺視 /窥视 (kuīshì)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- 偷看 (tōukàn)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Dutch gluren
- glurenTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Finnish kurkistaa, pilkottaa
- kurkistaaTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- pilkottaaTo be only slightly, partially visible
- pilkistääTo be only slightly, partially visible
- hakeacomputing: To retrieve the value from a memory address
- lukeacomputing: To retrieve the value from a memory address
French jeter un coup d'œil
- jeter un coup d'œilTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
German lugen, gucken
- lugenTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- guckenTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- linsenTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- im Speicher nachsehencomputing: To retrieve the value from a memory address
Hebrew הציץ
- הציץ (heitsíts)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Italian sbirciare
- sbirciareTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Japanese 覗く
- 覗く (nozoku)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Persian نگاه دزدانه
- نگاه دزدانه (negâhe dozdâna)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Portuguese dar uma espiada, espreitar
- dar uma espiadaTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- espreitarTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Romanian trage cu ochiul, arunca o privire
- trage cu ochiulTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- arunca o privireTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Russian загля́дывать, загляну́ть
- загля́дывать (zagljádyvatʹ)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- загляну́ть (zagljanútʹ)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- подгля́дывать (podgljádyvatʹ)To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Spanish entrever, pishpar
- entreverTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- pishparTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- pisparTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- atisbarTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- echar un vistazoTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- asomarTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- entreverseTo be only slightly, partially visible
- atisbarseTo be only slightly, partially visible
- asomarTo be only slightly, partially visible
Swedish kika, slänga ett öga
- kikaTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- slänga ett ögaTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- gluttaTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- tjuvkikaTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Turkish dikizlemek, göz atmak
- dikizlemekTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
- göz atmakTo look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with peek
weekuniquecreekspeakpeakgreekseektechniqueweakgeekboutiquecritiqueobliquechicstreaksleekcheekteaktweakmalikbleakphysiqueSikhsqueak
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
peek. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peek
MLA
“peek.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peek. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “peek,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peek.
Source: peek on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.