seek

Pronunciation

• IPA: /siːk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sechen, seken,^[2][3] inherited from Old English sēcan (“to search for; pursue, chase; long for; visit”), sēocan,^[4][2] influenced by Old Norse sœkja,^[4] from Proto-Germanic *sokjanan,^[4][2] the source also of Old Saxon sōkian, Dutch zoeken, German suchen and Gothic sōkjan,^[4][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *sag- (“to track down, seek out”),^[4][2][6] the source also of Latin sāgīre “to perceive keenly”, sagāx “keen-scented”, Old Irish saigid “seeks” and Greek hēgeîsthai “to lead”.^[2][4][5] The natural modern form of the Old English word, without Norse influence, survives in beseech.^[4][7] It is related to sagacious.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English sēcan “to visit, pursue”, about 725 in Beowulf, and “to try to find” before 899, according to Barnhart;^[2] about 888 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

By late Old English it also meant “to ask a question”.^[4] Middle English sechan meant “to require, demand” in 1155, and sechen “to look for” probably about 1175.^[2] Of places, “to go to, resort to”, it is old but now archaic.^[8] Seek-sorrow (1580s) was a self-tormentor,^[4] and the seek-no-further apple is by the 1660s.^[4] The noun, a series of horn notes calling hounds to the chase, is from about 1500,^[8][7] and in computing, the movement of a read/write head, from 1965.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 725 – to visit, pursue.^[2]
• a. 899 – to try to find.^[2]
• 1155 – to demand.^[2]
• c. 1500 – noun, a hunting call.^[8]
• 1580s – seek-sorrow.^[4]
• 1965 – a disk seek.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To try to find; to search for.
2. To try to obtain or reach: seek advice.
3. To try; to endeavour: sought to explain.
4. To go to or towards: water seeks its own level.
5. To ask for; to request.

Word family

• seeker
• reseek
• outseek
• north-seeking pole
• south-seeking pole

Related words

• beseech
• sought
• sagacious

Usage notes

The American Heritage groups seek with hunt, quest and search as verbs meaning “to make an effort to find something”.^[9]

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 k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin