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Etymology and origin of the English word eke

Pronunciation

eke1 also

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
900
Inherited from
Old English eac via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *auk

Etymology

The adverb meaning also is inherited from Middle English ek,[2][3] inherited from Old English ēac,[4][5][6][2] from Proto-Germanic *auk,[6][7] with cognates in Old Saxon ōk, Dutch ook, Old Frisian āk, Old High German ouh, German auch, Old Norse auk, Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌺 (auk, “for, but”), Danish og and Swedish och.[5][6][8] The Danish and Swedish words mean "and".[5] Its further origin is uncertain.[5][9] According to the OED, some connect it with the root of eke2, while others derive it from an Indo-European particle meaning "again" and a particle of emphasis, comparing Ancient Greek αὖ γε (aû ge).[5][8] Merriam-Webster compares Latin aut (“or”) and αὖ (aû, “again”),[4] Etymonline thinks a link with the verb probable,[6] Ayto finds it unclear,[10] and Weekley suggested that the adverb was originally an imperative, "add".[11] The 13th-century form ok is apparently from Old Norse.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Also, in addition: in Old English, where the OED's first quotation is from the Epinal Glossary;[5] Dictionary.com dates it to before 900 and Merriam-Webster to before the 12th century.[12][4] Bosworth–Toller records it as a word for "also, likewise, moreover, and".[13]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle English the word was also a conjunction, used to introduce a clause.[13][2] It was common in Chaucer, who has it 970 times, and in Gower, who has it 353 times.[3] Johnson (1755) still glossed it "also; likewise; beside; moreover".[14] Dictionaries now label it archaic or obsolete,[4][8][6] and Ayto says that English had it until comparatively recently.[10]

Timeline

  • before 900 – also, in addition.[12][5]
  • 13th century – the form ok, apparently from Old Norse.[5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. (archaic) Also; in addition; moreover.[4][8][5]

eke2 to increase, eke out

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1000
Inherited from
Old English ecan via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *aug-

Etymology

The verb meaning to increase is inherited from Middle English eken, also echen,[2][4] inherited from Old English ēcan, a variant of īecan.[4][12][13] The Middle English Dictionary finds three Old English verbs behind it: the transitive verb, also ȳcan, and intransitive ēacan and ēacian.[2] Hoad treats the strong intransitive verb as implied by the participle ēacen (“increased, strong, pregnant”),[9] and Ayto says that the verb has no Old English evidence at all, though Bosworth–Toller records the transitive verb with quotations.[10][13] The k of eke belongs to the North and the East Midlands, echen being the earlier form.[15][6][2] The OED also takes the modern verb partly from the noun, ēaca (“an increase”), and Barnhart and Etymonline think the Old English verb probably came from that noun.[5][15][6] All go back to Proto-Germanic *aukaną (“to increase”),[16][7] with cognates in Old Frisian āka, Old Saxon ōkian, Old High German ouhhōn, Old Norse auka and Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 (aukan, “to increase, grow”),[15][6][17] from Proto-Indo-European *aug- (“to increase”),[6][15][10] the source also of Latin augeō (“to increase”), Ancient Greek αὐξάνειν (auxánein, “to increase”) and Lithuanian áugu (“I grow”), and of wax "to grow".[15][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To increase, make greater: Old English ēcan, about 1000 in Barnhart and before 1000 in Dictionary.com,[15][12] with quotations such as Dú scealt écan ðíne yrmþu, "thou shalt increase thy wretchedness".[13] The noun ēaca, an increase, is older still, recorded in 894 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.[15]

Semantic evolution

The Old English verb meant simply to increase, prolong or add.[13] In Middle English it was used of enlarging a number, a territory, a span of time or a statement,[2] and Chaucer's forms are the ones with ch, eche and eched.[3] Weekley thinks the k form replaced eche under the influence of the noun.[11] Johnson (1755) still put "to increase" first.[14] The phrase eke out appears in 1596 for supplementing what is lacking, especially making resources last by adding to them or using them sparingly;[5][6] it was extended in 1641, in Milton, to spinning out a speech or piece of writing,[5] and in 1825, in Jefferson, to scraping together a living by various makeshifts.[5] Etymonline notes that the verb now lives mainly in this phrase,[6] while the plain sense "increase, lengthen" is now chiefly Scots.[8] The noun eke, an addition, took specialised uses: a tag on a bell-rope from 1549,[5] an appendix to a legal document in Scotland from 1568,[5] a ring set under a beehive,[8][5] a patch in a garment and an extra drink.[8][4] Scots and northern dialects used it, also as eik, for an addition to a building or an additional half-glass.[18] The first syllable of nickname was originally this noun.[10]

Timeline

  • 894 – noun ēaca, an increase, in Old English also reinforcements.[15][5]
  • c. 1000 – Old English ēcan, to increase.[15]
  • c. 1175 – eken, to add, in the Ormulum.[5] Barnhart dates the Ormulum form probably to about 1200.[15]
  • c. 1200 – to increase, lengthen.[5][6]
  • 1549 – noun, a tag on a bell-rope.[5]
  • 1568 – noun, a Scots supplement to a formal document.[5]
  • 1596 – eke out, to supplement or make last.[5][6]
  • 1641 – eke out, to prolong a speech or a piece of writing.[5]
  • 1825 – eke out a living or an existence.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. eke out: to make a limited supply last, especially by using it sparingly.[19][5]
  2. eke out: to support a living or an existence with difficulty and by makeshifts: The two brothers eked out a living on a few stony acres.[19][5][8]
  3. eke out: to add to something insufficient: She eked out her pension with evening tutoring.[19][4]
  4. (archaic) To increase, enlarge or lengthen.[19][8][5]
  5. (chiefly Scottish) To repair something by adding material; to patch or lengthen it.[4][8]

Noun

  1. (chiefly Scottish) An addition or extension.[4][8][18]
  2. (chiefly Scottish) A piece added to a garment to make it larger or longer.[4][8]
  3. (chiefly Scottish) An additional drink.[4][8][18]

Word family

  • eke out

Usage notes

Two further uses share the spelling: a word for a male salmon, recorded from 1887 in the north of England, whose origin the OED calls unknown,[5][18] and a slang word for make-up used among gay men, also spelled eek, which Green's dictionary records from 1984.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  16. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  17. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  18. ^ a b c d Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  19. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  20. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Eke.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/eke. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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