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peak

Etymology and origin of the English word peak

History Permalink
Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
1530
Ultimate origin
English (pike)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /piːk/[1]

Etymology

It is probably a variant or alteration of pike “sharp point”,[2][3][4] perhaps influenced by beak.[4] Hoad takes it instead as a back-formation from peaked, a variant of dialect picked “pointed”, from pick.[5] In its early uses for a mountain top it rendered Spanish and Portuguese pico.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pointed or projecting part: 1530 in Barnhart, in Palsgrave,[2] where it is the projecting front of a head-dress.[6]

Semantic evolution

A promontory or headland is from 1548,[6] the point of a beard from the 1590s, and the projecting front of a cap from the 1650s.[3][6] The pointed top of a mountain is from 1634, though pike had that sense about 1400.[2][3] The figurative “highest point” is from 1784, in Cowper,[2][3] and the highest point of a varying quantity, or the time of it, by 1902.[3] A widow's peak of hair is from 1833.[3][6] The verb, to rise in a peak, is from 1577, and the figurative “reach the highest point” not until 1958.[2][3] The Derbyshire district called the Peak is older than the common noun.[3][6]

Timeline

  • 1530 – a projecting point.[2]
  • 1548 – a headland.[6]
  • 1577 – verb, to rise in a peak.[2]
  • 1634 – a mountain top.[2]
  • 1784 – the highest point, figuratively.[2][3]
  • 1833 – hair on the forehead.[3]
  • 1902 – the highest value of a quantity.[3]
  • 1958 – verb, to reach the highest point.[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The pointed top of a mountain, or the mountain itself.
  2. The point of greatest strength, value or activity.
  3. A pointed part, such as the projecting front of a cap.

Verb

  1. To reach the highest point.

Adjective

  1. Busiest or greatest: peak hours.

Word family

  • peakless
  • peaklike
  • peakish
  • peakishly
  • peakishness
  • afterpeak
  • nonpeak
  • forepeak

Usage notes

A different verb peak, to grow thin or sickly, is of unknown origin and gives peaky and peaked “pale and thin”.[5][4] In nautical use, to peak oars or a yard is from apeak “held vertically”.[4]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Peak.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/peak. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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