Poke

How to spell poke

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce poke

What does poke mean?

1. verbTo push or jab at something or someone, typically with a finger or a pointed object.
2. nounA quick jab or prod given to a person or thing.

Poke in a sentence

• verb

  He likes to poke the campfire with a long stick.

• noun

  She gave the dough a gentle poke to test whether it had risen.

• verb

  Try not to poke your eye while applying the drops.

• noun

  A sharp poke in the ribs woke him on the train.

Where does poke come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The everyday verb comes from Middle English poken, meaning to push, thrust, or jab, which is closely related to Middle Dutch and Low German poken with the same sense of prodding something sharply. The word likely imitates the short, abrupt action it names, which is part of why so many languages of the North Sea region share similar forms. From the 1300s it described nudging a person or pushing at an object with a finger or a stick, and over time it broadened to mean rummaging or pushing about, as in poking around in a drawer. A quite separate sense survives in the old phrase 'a pig in a poke', where poke is a regional word for a small sack or bag, borrowed from Old French poque; the diminutive of that same root gives us 'pocket'. More recently, English adopted an unrelated Hawaiian word poke, meaning to slice or cut crosswise, for the diced raw fish dish, although it shares the spelling by pure coincidence.

How the word is built

• poke (single root, from Middle English/Middle Dutch poken: to thrust or jab)