peek

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English piken,^[2][3][4][5] later peke and peeke,^[3][6] of uncertain origin.^[7][2][4][8] The OED thinks it perhaps related to keek, also recorded in Chaucer, and compares the later peep.^[7][6][3] Barnhart reports the suggestion that piken arose from kiken by dissimilation of p and k, and that keek or peek may be borrowed from Middle Dutch kieken or kijken, variants of kiken (“to look”); he cites Bense's view that Chaucer may have heard the Dutch word among the Flemings in England or in Flanders.^[3] The Middle English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary also give the Middle Dutch source with a question mark.^[5][9] Weekley thought of French piquer (“to prick”), pricking through.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To peep or peer: about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, where Pandarus peeks in at the curtain;^[3][5] the OED's first record is about 1390, in Roberd of Cisyle, where other manuscripts have keke, loke or prye.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that peek, keek and peep were used with much the same meaning in the 14th and 15th centuries.^[2] The change of vowel, seen in the spellings peke and peeke, begins to be recorded in the 1500s.^[3] About 1460 the verb was used figuratively of something appearing as if looking out, like the sun over the horizon.^[7][5] The noun, a quick or furtive look, is recorded from 1636 (1844 in Etymonline), often in take a peek.^[7][2] Peek-bo is recorded from the 16th century but was replaced by peep-bo;^[6][3] the dialect dictionaries record peek "to pry, to stare" from Cumberland to Devon and in America.^[11] In Australian slang peek meant to give in (1919).^[12] In computing, PEEK was a BASIC statement for reading a memory location (1978), and gave a verb.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – to peep, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.^[3][5]
• c. 1460 – figuratively, to appear as if peeping out.^[7]
• 16th century – peek-bo.^[6]
• 1636 – noun, a quick or furtive look.^[7]
• 1919 – Australian slang, to give in.^[12]
• 1978 – computing, the PEEK statement, and the verb.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To look quickly or secretly, especially through a gap or from hiding; to peep: The children peeked through the keyhole.
2. To show slightly, as if looking out: Snowdrops were peeking through the grass.

Noun

1. A quick or furtive look; a glance: Take a peek at the menu.

Word family

• peekaboo

Related words

• peep
• keek
• peak
• pique

Usage notes

A separate dialect verb peek, to make a faint high-pitched sound, cheep, and a noun for a small bird's shrill cry, are recorded from the early 19th century and are probably imitative, like the corresponding sense of peep.^[7][13] Dictionary.com lists peek with the confusable peak, pique and piqué.^[14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f 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)
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House