meek
English
Etymology
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#MEEKCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#MEEK meek, meke, meoc, probably a borrowing from Old NorseCategory:English terms derived from Old Norse#MEEK mjúkr (“soft; meek”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#MEEK *meukaz, *mūkaz (“soft; supple”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#MEEK *mewg-, *mewk- (“slick, slippery; to slip”); compare Old English smēag (“subtle, stealthy, etc.”) and smūgan.
Cognate with Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk mjuk (“soft”), Norwegian Bokmål myk (“soft”), and Danish myg (“supple”), Dutch muik (“soft, overripe”), dialectal German mauch (“dry and decayed, rotten”), Mauche (“malanders”). Compare as well Welsh mwyth (“soft, weak”), Latin ēmungō (“to blow one's nose”), Tocharian A muk- (“to let go, give up”), Lithuanian mùkti (“to slip away from”), Ancient Greek μύσσομαι (mússomai, “to blow the nose”), Sanskrit मु॒ञ्चति॑ (muñcáti, “to release, let loose”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /miːk/Category:English 1-syllable words#MEEKCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MEEK
- (General American) IPA(key): /mik/Category:English 1-syllable words#MEEKCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MEEK
- Rhymes: -iːkCategory:Rhymes:English/iːk#MEEKCategory:Rhymes:English/iːk/1 syllable#MEEK
Adjective
meek (comparative meeker, superlative meekest)Category:English lemmas#MEEKCategory:English adjectives#MEEKCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MEEKCategory:Pages with entries#MEEKCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MEEK
- Humble, non-boastful, modest, meager, or self-effacing.
- Synonyms: abased, demure, verecund; see also Thesaurus:humble
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:5:
- Blessed are the meeke: for they shall inherit the earth.Category:English terms with quotations#MEEK
- 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 8”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
- Mrs. Wickam was a meek woman...who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else...Category:English terms with quotations#MEEK
- Submissive, dispirited, cowed.
- Synonyms: compliant, passive; abject, servile; see also Thesaurus:docile, Thesaurus:servile
- 1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC:
- What if they were wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them. Fight or be eaten.Category:English terms with quotations#MEEK
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
meek (third-person singular simple present meeks, present participle meeking, simple past and past participle meeked)Category:English lemmas#MEEKCategory:English verbs#MEEKCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MEEKCategory:Pages with entries#MEEKCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MEEK
- (USCategory:American English#MEEK) To tame; to break (a horse)