reek

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English reke (“smoke, vapour, mist”), also rek,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English rēc (“smoke”),^[2][5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *raukiz,^[3][2][7][8] an ablaut variant of the base of the verb,^[9][10] with the cognates Old Frisian rēk, Old Saxon rōk, Old High German rouh and Old Norse reykr, and with German Rauch, Dutch rook and Swedish rök.^[11][9][3] The verb is inherited from Middle English reken, inherited from Old English rēocan (“to give out smoke”), from *reukaną,^[4][2][8] cognate with Old Frisian riāka, Old High German riohhan and Old Norse rjúka and Swedish ryka,^[6][9] and with German riechen and Dutch rieken.^[9][11] The OED and the American Heritage Dictionary see in it a merger with the weak causative rēcan, "to expose to smoke", West Saxon rīecan.^[9][5] The regular outcome of the Anglian noun would be reech, a form that did exist but is rare.^[3][2] Barnhart explains the -k by the influence of Scandinavian forms,^[3] and Etymonline derives the noun itself from such a source;^[2] the OED also credits levelling within the paradigm and the influence of the verb.^[9] The further origin is uncertain according to the OED.^[9] Barnhart and Etymonline connect it with Proto-Indo-European *reug- (“to vomit, belch”),^[3][2] comparing Ancient Greek ἐρεύγομαι (ereúgomai, “to belch out”) and Latin ērūgō (“to disgorge noisily”),^[3] and Ayto connects it with Latin ructō (“to spew out”), the source of eructate.^[12] Orel compares Lithuanian rū̃kti (“to smoke”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Smoke; to give off smoke: both before 725 in Barnhart's dating,^[3] the noun in the Vespasian Psalter and the verb in the Paris Psalter in the OED's record.^[9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates both to before the 12th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the word first meant smoke, and that the sense "bad smell" came only in the 17th century.^[12] The noun and the verb had already spread in Old English to vapour or steam and to any exhalation or odour,^[9] and the verb could mean to rise, of smoke or of a smell.^[9][3] Etymonline links the sense of stink to "that which rises",^[2] and traces the verb's "to emit a bad smell" (1710) to the sense "to be heated and perspiring" of the 15th century.^[2][9] Dates for the noun's "stench" differ: the 1650s in Etymonline^[2] and 1685 in Barnhart.^[3] The older sense did not vanish: smoke is the first meaning in Johnson (1755),^[13] and the Century Dictionary (1891) marked the word obsolete, archaic or Scots.^[2] It stayed in everyday use in Scotland, Ireland and the north and midlands of England,^[9][14] where a reek was also a house with a hearth (from 1542)^[9][6] and a puff of tobacco (from about 1877),^[9] and Edinburgh is called Auld Reekie, "Old Smoky", from its chimneys, since at least the early 18th century.^[12][15] The figurative use, a trace of something corrupt, is recorded from 1620 for the noun,^[9] and the verb's "to be strongly suggestive of something disreputable" from the early 18th century.^[6] In American slang of 1930, reek also meant lewd language.^[16]

Timeline

• before 725 – noun and verb, smoke, to give off smoke.^[3]
• c. 1250 – noun reke, smoke, vapour, mist, and the verb, of smoke or stench, to rise, in Genesis and Exodus.^[3]
• c. 1475 – of a person or animal, to be heated and perspiring.^[9] Etymonline dates this to the early 15th century.^[2]
• 1542 – noun, in Scotland, a house with a fire on its hearth.^[9]
• 1567 – of hot food or drink, to steam.^[9]
• 1620 – noun, a trace of something corrupt or immoral.^[9]
• 1649 – of a chimney or fire, to send smoke into a room.^[9]
• 1650s – noun, a stench.^[2] Barnhart dates it to 1685.^[3]
• 1710 – verb, to give off a bad smell.^[2]
• 1729 – noun, foul air.^[9]
• c. 1877 – noun, chiefly in Scotland, a puff of tobacco smoke.^[9]
• 1930 – noun, in American slang, lewd language.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strong and unpleasant smell; a stench: the reek of rotting fish.^[17][4][9]
2. A trace of something corrupt, or a lingering unpleasant association.^[9]
3. (chiefly Scottish and dialect) Smoke.^[17][4][9]
4. Vapour, steam or mist.^[17][4][9]

Verb

1. To give off a strong unpleasant smell; to stink: The kitchen reeked of burnt onions.^[17][4][9]
2. To be strongly suggestive of something unpleasant: The whole deal reeked of favouritism.^[17][4][6]
3. To give off smoke or vapour.^[4][9][17]
4. To expose to smoke, or to fumigate.^[17][9][6]
5. Of smoke or a smell: to rise or come out.^[4][9]

Word family

• reeker
• reeky
• reekingly
• areek

Related words

• eructate
• reech
• Auld Reekie

Usage notes

Several words spelled reek have other origins and are regional.^[9][4] Scots reek, to equip, fit out or dress, recorded from 1562, is of uncertain origin; the OED suggests Dutch or Middle Low German "to put in order".^[9][4][14] British dialect reek, a heap or pile of hay or corn, and the verb to pile up, are alterations of rick.^[4][6][13] Irish reek, a hill or mountain, recorded from 1776 and found in Macgillicuddy's Reeks, is probably also a variant of rick.^[9][6] The OED also has an obsolete reek for seaweed or marsh plants (1545–91), probably a variant of wreke,^[9] and one for causing a person to waste away, probably a variant of wreak, recorded by Ray in 1691.^[9][14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ a b c 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)
15. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins