Trek
nounA long and often difficult journey, especially one made on foot over rough terrain.
How to spell trek
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce trek
What does trek mean?
- nounA long and often difficult journey, especially one made on foot over rough terrain.
- verbTo make a long, slow, or difficult journey, typically on foot.
Trek in a sentence
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noun
The trek to base camp took the group four exhausting days.
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verb
They decided to trek up the mountain before sunrise.
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noun
A daily trek across the city for work left her constantly tired.
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verb
Commuters often trek for miles when the trains are cancelled.
Where does trek come from?
Language of origin: Dutch
This word entered English from Afrikaans in the early 1800s, where 'trek' meant a journey by ox wagon and came directly from the Dutch verb 'trekken', meaning 'to pull, draw, or haul'. The original sense was thoroughly practical: pioneers literally hauled their belongings across difficult country, so the act of pulling the wagon became a name for the migration itself. The word gained wide currency in English through the Great Trek of the 1830s, when Boer settlers migrated inland across southern Africa. From that historical event the meaning broadened into any long, arduous journey made on foot or over rough ground. Because it comes from a Germanic root rather than Latin, the spelling stays short and phonetic, with no silent letters to trip the writer up.
How the word is built
- trek (from Afrikaans/Dutch trekken: to pull, draw, or march)
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