dyke

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• /ˈdaɪ̯k/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• /ˈdʌɪ̯k/ Canadian raising
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• /ˈdɜɪ̯k/ Canadian raising
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• Scotland: /ˈdʌi̯k/
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• Scotland: /ˈdəi̯k/
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• rhymes with -aɪk
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• CMU ARPABET: D AY1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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* As an English surname, from the noun dyke. * As a Dutch surname, Americanized from Dijk (also compare Dyck).

A variant of dike, from Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”). See also ditch. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dheygw- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”). The semantic evolution (also seen in several cognate words) was from "stick (a spade) into" to "dig" to "hole or other product of digging", "excavation", then the ridge of earth created when excavating a ditch, then to a ridge of earth intended to prevent flooding.

Uncertain. Attested since the 1940s (in Berrey and Van den Bark’s 1942 American Thesaurus of Slang) or 30s. Semantic development from dyke (“ditch”) has been proposed, and some sources from the 1890s are said to record dyke as slang for "vulva" and hedge of the dyke as slang for "pubic hair", but Green's Dictionary of Slang says this is not found in connection to lesbianism and Dictionary.com considers a connection unlikely. Bull dyke / bulldike is attested earlier, in reference to women since at least the 1920s (the 29 July 1892 Decatur Daily Review in Illinois mentions a woman who "won the affections of Harvey Neal, alias 'Bulldyke'", whose gender is unclear); compare dike (“noun: well-dressed man; verb: be well dressed”)), bulldyker, and bulldyking, which are all attested earlier than bare dyke, e.g. in Parke's 1906 Human Sexuality, in the speech of Philadelphians, and backcountry black Americans. Compare bulldagger, attested since around the same time and used especially by black women. Other linguists suggested that bull dyke(r) referred to strong black women who dug dikes, or derived from bull + dick, perhaps in reference to black men. It has also been suggested dyke is a shortening of morphodyke, from morphodite, from hermaphrodite, but the derivation may go in the other direction instead, with morphodyke being a blend of morphodite with the already-extant word dyke.

74 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: канавка (kanavka) — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Bulgarian: отводнителен канал (otvodnitelen kanal) — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Dutch: sloot — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Finnish: vallihauta — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• French: fossé — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• German: Graben — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Italian: fosso — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Polish: grobla — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Portuguese: trincheira — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Russian: сто́чная кана́ва (stóčnaja kanáva) — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Russian: кана́ва (kanáva) — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Russian: ров (rov) — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Russian: транше́я (tranšéja) — ditch and bank running alongside each other
• Armenian: ամբարտակ (ambartak) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Bulgarian: дига (diga) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Catalan: dic — barrier to prevent flooding
• Czech: hráz — barrier to prevent flooding
• Danish: dige — barrier to prevent flooding
• Dutch: dijk — barrier to prevent flooding
• Esperanto: digo — barrier to prevent flooding
• Estonian: tamm — barrier to prevent flooding
• Finnish: tulvapato — barrier to prevent flooding
• French: digue — barrier to prevent flooding
• Georgian: კაშხალი (ḳašxali) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Georgian: ზღუდარი (zɣudari) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Georgian: ჯებირი (ǯebiri) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Georgian: საგუბარი (sagubari) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Georgian: წყალსაწევი (c̣q̇alsac̣evi) — barrier to prevent flooding
• German: Deich — barrier to prevent flooding
• Ancient Greek: ἄνδηρον (ándēron) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Hindi: तटबंध (taṭbandh) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Hindi: बंधा (bandhā) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Irish: cladán — barrier to prevent flooding
• Italian: diga — barrier to prevent flooding
• Italian: argine — barrier to prevent flooding
• Italian: barriera — barrier to prevent flooding
• Italian: terrapieno — barrier to prevent flooding
• Japanese: 堤防 (teibō) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Korean: 둑 (duk) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Latin: diga — barrier to prevent flooding
• Latvian: dambis — barrier to prevent flooding
• Macedonian: канач (kanač) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Macedonian: трапиште (trapište) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Māori: ahuriri — barrier to prevent flooding
• Plautdietsch: Daum — barrier to prevent flooding
• Polish: zapora — barrier to prevent flooding
• Portuguese: dique — barrier to prevent flooding
• Romanian: dig — barrier to prevent flooding
• Russian: да́мба (dámba) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Spanish: dique — barrier to prevent flooding
• Ottoman Turkish: اور (or) — barrier to prevent flooding
• Vietnamese: đê — barrier to prevent flooding
• Welsh: clawdd — barrier to prevent flooding
• Arabic: جَيْبْ نَافِذ (jayb nāfiḏ) — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Finnish: juoni — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• German: Gesteinsgang — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Hungarian: haránttelér — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Hungarian: dejk — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Irish: dingeán — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Italian: dicco — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Polish: dajka — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Spanish: dique — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Swedish: gång — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Turkish: dayk — geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks
• Danish: betonlebbe — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Finnish: rekkalesbo — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• French: gouine — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• German: Kampflesbe — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Japanese: おなべ (o-nabe) — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Polish: męska lesbijka — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Portuguese: sapatão — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Portuguese: caminhoneira — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Portuguese: fufa — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian
• Russian: кобёл (kobjól) — masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian