Creek

How to spell creek

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce creek

What does creek mean?

1. nounA small stream or narrow watercourse, or a narrow inlet where water reaches inland.

Creek in a sentence

• The children waded across the shallow creek behind the farmhouse.

• Heavy rain caused the creek to overflow its banks onto the road.

Where does creek come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Creek entered Middle English in the 1200s, most likely from the Old Norse word 'kriki', which meant a nook, a corner, or a sharp bend, and was reinforced by the closely related Middle Dutch 'creke' and Old French 'crique'. The earliest English sense described a narrow tidal inlet or a winding bend where the sea pushed into the land, which is why the idea of a small, sheltered waterway sits at the heart of the word. Over time, especially in North American usage, the meaning broadened from a coastal inlet to any small stream or minor tributary running inland. The spelling settled on the 'ee' vowel, which neatly separates it from its sound-alike 'creak', the noise a hinge makes. Knowing that creek is fundamentally about water, not sound, is the surest way to keep the two apart on the page.

How the word is built

• creek (a single root noun, originally meaning a narrow inlet or bend; no prefix or suffix)