cheek English · revision 10724

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 825|origins=ang cēace}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʃiːk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|cēace]], cēce, cēoce, jaw, jawbone (before 830),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from West Germanic *kaukōn, *kǣkōn,^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) cognate with Middle Low German kāke and Dutch kaak, jaw;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) Etymonline calls it of uncertain origin,^(Etymonline) and Barnhart relates it to [[chew]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The jaw or jawbone: about 825, now obsolete in this sense.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The fleshy side of the face below the eye is from about 950.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) Etymonline notes that words for cheek, jaw and chin tend to run together in Indo-European languages (compare [[chin]]), and quotes Chaucer's Samson killing a thousand men with “an asses cheek”.^(Etymonline) The buttocks are cheeks from about 1600.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The sense of brazen insolence is from 1840, in the phrase ''give cheek'', and first recorded as a noun in Dickens's Bleak House (1852);^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Word Origins compares the earlier use of face.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Cheeky'' is from 1859,^(Barnhart 1988) and in ''cheek by jowl'', jowl also means cheek.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 825 – the jaw.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 950 – the side of the face.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1600 – a buttock.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1840 – give cheek, insolence.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1859 – cheeky.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Either side of the [[face]] below the eye.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' Rude or disrespectful talk or behaviour; [[impudence]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' Either of the buttocks.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(informal)'' To speak rudely to.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cheekful]]

+ * [[cheekless]]

+ * [[cheekpiece]]

+ * [[cheekbone]]

+ * [[cheeked]]

+ * [[cheeky]]

+ * [[tongue-in-cheek]]

+ * [[cheek by jowl]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chew]]

+ * [[jowl]]

+ * [[chin]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}