trek

See also: Trek

English

Alternative forms

• treck (archaic)

Etymology

From Afrikaans trek, from Dutch trekken, from Middle Dutch trekken (weak verb) and trēken (“to trek, place, bring, move”, strong verb), from Old Dutch *trekkan, *trekan, from Proto-West Germanic *trekan, from Proto-Germanic *trekaną, *trakjaną (“to drag, haul, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: trĕk, IPA^(key): /tɹɛk/
• Rhymes: -ɛk

• Audio (Afrikaans):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

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Noun

trek (plural treks)

1. (South Africa) A journey by ox wagon.
2. (South Africa) The Boer migration of 1835–1837.
3. A slow or difficult journey.

   We're planning a trek up Kilimanjaro.

   • 1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:

     Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese.

   • 2025 February 7, Esha Mitra, Aishwarya S Iyer and Ross Adkin, “‘Treated like criminals’: Shackling of Indians aboard 40-hour migrant flight sparks new outrage against Trump”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Young Indians looking for work opportunities have made up a sizeable portion of undocumented migrants in the US, many after making the dangerous trek through Latin America to reach the US southern border.

4. A long walk.

   Synonyms: slog, schlep

   I would drive to the shops from here; you can walk, but it's quite a trek.

Verb

trek (third-person singular simple present treks, present participle trekking, simple past and past participle trekked)

1. (intransitive) To make a slow or arduous journey.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá:

     Before that they had been a good deal on the move, trekking about after the white man, who was one of those rolling stones that keep going round after a soft job.

2. (intransitive) To journey on foot, especially to hike through mountainous areas.

   Synonym: tramp

3. (South Africa) To travel by ox wagon.
4. (Nigeria) To travel by walking.

Related terms

• trigger

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Chinese: 跋涉 (zh) (báshè)

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: tarpoa (fi) (1), patikoida (fi) (2)
• Korean: 트래킹 오래걷기 (teuraeking oraegeotgi)
• Spanish: jornada (es) f

Anagrams

• rekt

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /træk/

Etymology 1

From Dutch trekken.

Verb

trek (present trek, present participle trekkende, past participle getrek)

1. to haul
2. to move (moving house)
3. to pull

Descendants

• → English: trek

Etymology 2

From Dutch trek.

Noun

trek (plural trekke)

1. journey

Derived terms

• Groot Trek

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trɛk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: trek
• Rhymes: -ɛk

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch trec, from trecken.

Noun

trek m (plural trekken, diminutive trekje n)

1. (uncountable) appetite

   Ik heb trek in een reep chocola — I could (now) have a chocolate bar

   Ik heb geen trek in deze klus — I have no mind to carry out this task

2. (countable) journey, migration
3. (uncountable) animal migration
4. (uncountable) draught, air current through a chimney
5. (countable) feature, trait

Derived terms

• eendentrek
• haringtrek
• trekgans
• trektocht
• trekvis
• trekvogel
• trekwild
• trekwind
• vogeltrek
• zalmtrek

Descendants

• > Afrikaans: trek (inherited)
• → Indonesian: trek

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

trek

1. inflection of trekken:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• rekt

French

Noun

trek m (plural treks)

1. treck
2. trecking

Indonesian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Dutch trek, from Middle Dutch trec, trecken.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtrɛk/ [ˈt̪rɛk̚]
• Rhymes: -ɛk
• Syllabification: trek

Noun

trek (plural trek-trek)

1. journey, migration
2. (sports) pass the ball from winger to center

Derived terms

• mengetrek

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English track.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtrɛk/ [ˈt̪rɛk̚]
• Rhymes: -ɛk
• Syllabification: trek

Noun

trek (plural trek-trek)

1. track
   1. (sports) a path or course laid out for a race, for exercise, etc.
   2. (computing) a circular (never-ending) data storage unit on a side of magnetic or optical disk, divided into sectors.

Synonyms

• lintas

Derived terms

• trek pendek

Further reading

• “trek”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɾek]

Noun

trek

1. truck

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh, page 30