Peak

How to spell peak

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce peak

What does peak mean?

1. nounThe highest point of something, such as a mountain summit or a maximum level.
2. verbTo reach the highest point or maximum level before declining.
3. adjectiveAt the highest or maximum level of activity, capacity, or intensity.

Peak in a sentence

• noun

  The climbers reached the snowy peak just before noon.

• verb

  Analysts expect prices to peak in the next quarter.

• adjective

  Commuters pay more for travelling during peak hours.

• noun

  Sales reached their peak during the holiday season.

• verb

  The runner trained hard so that her fitness would peak on race day.

• adjective

  The athlete was in peak condition for the championship.

Where does peak come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Peak comes from the older English word 'pike', meaning a sharp point or a pointed hilltop, which itself traces back to the Germanic root for something that pricks or juts upward. By the sixteenth century English speakers had begun spelling and saying it as 'peak' when referring to the pointed summit of a mountain. From the literal sense of a mountain top, the word naturally stretched to mean any highest point, whether of a graph, a career, or a level of activity. It is easy to confuse with its homophones: 'peek', meaning a quick look, and 'pique', a French borrowing meaning irritation, both of which sound identical but carry completely different meanings. The spelling trap lies entirely in choosing 'ea' here rather than the 'ee' of 'peek' or the French 'ique' of 'pique'.

How the word is built

• peak (single root, no affixes; a variant of the older 'pike' meaning a pointed top)

Words that sound like peak

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• peek: To look quickly or secretly, often through a small or partly hidden opening.