eek

See also: EEK, É-ÉK, Eek, eekʼ, and ээк

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ēk, IPA^(key): /iːk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ik/
• (Etymology 1, also) /iː/, /i/
• Homophone: eke
• Rhymes: -iːk, -iː

Etymology 1

Imitative

Interjection

eek (onomatopoeia)

1. Representing a scream or shriek (especially in comic strips and books).

   Eek! There's a mouse in the bathtub!

2. Expressing (sometimes mock) fear or surprise.

   I almost got fired from my job yesterday. Eek!

3. Representing the shrill vocal sound of a mouse, rat, or monkey.

Translations

scream or shriek

• Finnish: iik (fi)
• French: hiii
• Spanish: chirrido (es) m

Verb

eek (third-person singular simple present eeks, present participle eeking, simple past and past participle eeked) (onomatopoeia)

1. To produce a high-pitched squeal, as in fear or trepidation.
   • 2009, Paul Gelder, Yachting Monthly's Further Confessions:

     She was dangling the mouse by its tail, but as it tried to arch upwards and bite, she started to jig about wildly […] The anglers had watched a beautiful young woman dance naked beneath a full moon to the feverish rhythm of unworldly eeking noises!

   • 2011, Isaac E. Washington, The Stars in My Dreams, page 106:

     We saw a frog and she eeked in terror again from the sight of it hopping near her.

   • 2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “Sorry, love, they all look the same to me,” said Dad, desperately trying to spot one with a particularly pink nose. “Armitage? ARMITAGE!” called Zoe. All the rats eeked. Every single one of them wanted to escape.
     “We’ll just have to set them all free,” said Zoe.

2. (slang, ethnic slur, offensive) Of a black person, to speak nonsense or gibberish.

See also

• ook
• eep
• meep

Etymology 2

Clipping of ecaf (“face”), from face via backslang.

Noun

eek (plural eeks)

1. (Polari) A face.

   How bona to vada your eek! ― How good to see your face!

   • 1966, Barry Took, Marty Feldman, Round the Horne, season 2, spoken by either Julian or Sandy (either Hugh Paddick or Kenneth Williams):

     You have your Elizabeth Taylor done in half-tones, reclining on this chaise longue – that’s your actual French – decollete down to her ankles, with a wanton look all over her eek.

   • 2015 October 12, Adam Lowe, “Poem of the week: Vada That”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Though she's a bimbo bit of hard, / she’s royal and tart. And girl, you know / vadaing her eek is always bona.

   • 2021, Daren Kay, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”, in The Brightonians (ebook):

     [H]e plonked his corybungus down and turned his eek to the driver.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:countenance

Etymology 3

Adverb

eek (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of eke (“also”)

Anagrams

• Kee, eke, kee

Atong (India)

Etymology

From Hindi एक (ek).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːk/

Numeral

eek (Bengali script এঽক)

1. one

Synonyms

• sa
• rongsa
• wan

References

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary. Stated in Appendix 3.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch eec. Doublet of eik (“oak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: eek
• Rhymes: -eːk

Noun

eek f (plural eken, diminutive eekje n)

1. oak bark

Synonyms

• eikenschors

Middle English

Adverb

eek

1. Alternative form of ek
   • 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 5-6.

     Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
     Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Tedim Chin

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *ʔeek.

Noun

eek

1. dung
2. excrement

References

• Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip