Etymologically
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peek

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Pronunciation

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

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