seek
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seek¹
- /ˈsiːk/
- [ˈsɪi̯k]
Sounds like Sikh · Rhymes with -iːk
Where it comes from
From Middle English seke, seken, from Old English sēċan, sēċean, sœ̄ċan, from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti (“to seek out”), from *seh₂g- (“to follow, trace”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola zeek (“to seek”), North Frisian schük, sjuk, säke (“to search, seek”), Saterland Frisian säike (“to search, seek”), West Frisian sykje (“to seek”), Alemannic German sueche, süeche (“to search, seek”), Bavarian suacha, suachn (“to search”), Central Franconian söke (“to search”), Cimbrian züuchan (“to seek”), Dutch zoeken (“to seek”), Low German söken (“to seek”), German suchen (“to seek”), Luxembourgish sichen (“to seek; to fetch”), Vilamovian zihia, zihja (“to seek”), Yiddish זוכן (zukhn, “to search, seek”), Danish søge (“to seek; to apply”), Faroese søkja (“to seek”), Icelandic sækja (“to seek”), Norwegian Bokmål søke (“to seek; to apply”), Norwegian Nynorsk søka, søke, søkja, søkje (“to seek; to apply”), Swedish söka (“to search”), Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan, “to seek”); also Cornish hedhes (“to reach; to achieve; to manage”), Welsh haeddu (“to deserve, merit”), Latin sāgiō (“to perceive quickly or keenly with the senses”), Ancient Greek ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to go before, precede; to lead; to believe, hold”), Albanian gjegj (“to answer; to obey”), Hittite 𒊭𒀀𒆠𒄑𒍣 (ša-a-ki-ez-zi, “to seek out”).
The Middle English and later Modern English hard /k/ derives from Old English sēcð, the third person singular.
verb seeks · seeking · sought · seeked
-
To try to find; to look for; to search for.
I seek wisdom.
Similar: look for, search for
- To try to acquire or gain; to strive after. I sought my fortune on the goldfields.
- To try to reach or come to (a location). When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic.
- To attempt, to try [with infinitive ‘to do something’]. Our company does not seek to limit its employees from using the internet or engaging in social networking.
- To ask for; to solicit. I seek forgiveness through repentance.
- To go, to move, to travel (in a given direction). Ryght so he sought[…]towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes
- To move to a specified location (particularly of a disk drive or similar device). This function instructs the hard drive to seek to a specified track.
-
To navigate through a data stream.
Most of the changes made to this control are to accommodate the various constraints that playback of streaming media may impose in broadcast streams, such as the inability to seek through the media.
Similar: scrub
noun seeks · seech · seeke
- The operation of navigating through a stream. The number of seeks to retrieve a shot […] depends on the location of those frames on physical blocks.
Seek²
noun Seeks
- Obsolete form of Sikh
Seek³
Where it comes from
* As a North/Low German surname, from Seek, variant of Seeck, shortened from compound names containing the element Sieg (“victory”) (as in Siegfried) or siech (“ill”).
* As a Chinese surname, Romanized from 薛 (xuē), see Xue.
proper noun Seeks
- A surname from German.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: look for, search, assay, attempt, try, essay, explore, lookup, quest, searching, exploring, develop, get, attain, bring, achieve
Translations
Every language
verb to try to find
| Español | buscar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 찾다 chatda, 추구하다 chuguhada |
| 日本語 | 探す sagasu, 探し回る sagashi-mawaru |
| 中文 | 找 zhǎo, 找尋 /找寻 zhǎoxún, 尋找 /寻找 xúnzhǎo, 搜索 sōusuǒ |
| हिन्दी | ढूँढ़ना ḍhū̃ṛhnā, ढूँढना ḍhūṇḍhnā, खोजना khojnā |
| Kiswahili | kutafuta |
| Português | procurar |
| Français | chercher |
| Deutsch | suchen |
| Italiano | cercare, ricercare |
| Ελληνικά | ζητώ zitó |
| Română | căuta |
| Русский | иска́ть iskátʹ, разы́скивать razýskivatʹ, пыта́ться найти́ pytátʹsja najtí |
| Tiếng Việt | tìm, tìm kiếm |
| العربية | بَحَثَ baḥaṯa, طَلَبَ ṭalaba |
| עברית | חִפֵּשׂ khipés |
Talk about this word "seek." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/seek. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. seek. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/seek "seek." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/seek.Cite this
@misc{seek_2026,
title = {seek},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/seek},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
