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/
• Homophone: eke
• Rhymes: -iːk

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.

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