creek

WOTD – 18 October 2008

See also: Creek

English

Etymology

From Middle English creke, from Old Norse kriki. Early British colonists of the Americas used the term in the usual British way, to name inlets; as settlements followed the inlets upstream and inland, the names were retained and creek was reinterpreted as a general course for a small waterway.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: krēk IPA^(key): /kɹiːk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɹik/, /kɹɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːk, -ɪk
• Homophones: creak, crick

Noun

creek (plural creeks)

1. (Britain) A (often saltwater) small inlet or bay, narrower and extending farther into the land than a cove; a recess in the shore of the sea, or of a river; the inner part of a port that is used as a dock for small boats.
2. (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US) A stream of water (often freshwater) smaller than a river and larger than a brook.
3. Any turn or winding.

Synonyms

• beck, brook, burn, stream
• (regional US terms:) run (Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia), brook (New England), branch (Southern US), bayou (Louisiana)

Derived terms

Terms derived from creek

• Clear Creek
• Cripple Creek
• dry creek

• Pryor Creek
• up the creek

Translations

small inlet or bay

• Bulgarian: бухта f (buhta), тясно заливче (tjasno zalivče)
• Catalan: cala (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小灣 (zh),小湾 (zh) (xiǎowān)

• Dutch: kreek (nl) m, f, slenk m
• Finnish: poukama (fi)
• French: crique (fr)
• German: Bucht (de) f

• Hungarian: öböl (hu)
• Italian: calanca (it) f
• Limburgish: krieëk m
• Malay: serokan
• Portuguese: enseada (pt) f
• Spanish: caleta (es) f
• West Frisian: sleat

stream of water

• Armenian: գետակ (hy) (getak)
• Bulgarian: поток (bg) (potok)
• Catalan: rierol (ca) m, riera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小溪 (zh) (xiǎoxī)

• Czech: potok (cs) m
• Eastern Bontoc: kinnaw, arog-og
• Finnish: puro (fi)
• French: ruisseau (fr) m
• Galician: regato m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Bach (de) m
• Hungarian: patak (hu)

• Ilocano: waig
• Italian: ruscello (it), rivo m
• Lubuagan Kalinga: wain, ewagit, suɏong
• Malay: anak sungai
• Norwegian: bekk (no), liten (no) elv (no)
• Pennsylvania German: Krick, Grick
• Portuguese: riacho (pt) m
• Russian: руче́й (ru) m (ručéj)
• Southern Kalinga: wail
• Spanish: arroyo (es) m
• Tagalog: sapa, ilat
• Turkish: çay (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} aircín m, ^{(please verify)} camlinn f, ^{(please verify)} caolán m, ^{(please verify)} casla f, ^{(please verify)} crompán m, ^{(please verify)} cuas m, ^{(please verify)} gabhal m, ^{(please verify)} gabhlán m, ^{(please verify)} góilín m

• Maori: ^{(please verify)} manga

Anagrams

• ecker