Cheek

How to spell cheek

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce cheek

What does cheek mean?

1. nounEither of the two soft, rounded sides of the face below the eyes.
2. nounBold or rude lack of respect, especially when amusing or surprising.

Cheek in a sentence

• The cold wind left a red mark on her cheek.

• She had the cheek to ask for a raise after arriving an hour late.

• He kissed his grandmother on the cheek before leaving.

• The waiter charged us for water, which struck me as sheer cheek.

Where does cheek come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, descending from the Old English ceace or cece, which originally meant the jaw or the jawbone rather than the soft fleshy side of the face we mean today. It belongs to a family of West Germanic words, with relatives such as the Dutch kaak, also meaning jaw, suggesting an old shared root for the bony lower part of the face. Over the medieval period the sense drifted outward from the bone itself to the soft cheek that covers it, the meaning that now feels primary. The informal sense of impudence or sauciness is much younger, emerging in the early nineteenth century, probably from the idea of brazenly showing one's face or speaking with a bold mouth. The spelling stayed phonetically tidy: the 'ee' simply records the long vowel, and the silent history of the jaw lives on only in the etymology.

How the word is built

• cheek (whole word, from Old English ceace/cece meaning jaw or jawbone); no productive prefix or suffix