meek

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• Received-Pronunciation: /miːk/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• General-American: /mik/
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• rhymes with -iːk
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• CMU ARPABET: M IY1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English meek, meke, meoc, probably a borrowing from Old Norse mjúkr (“soft; meek”), from Proto-Germanic *meukaz, *mūkaz (“soft; supple”), from Proto-Indo-European *mewg-, *mewk- (“slick, slippery; to slip”); compare Old English smēag (“subtle, stealthy, etc.”) and smūgan. Cognate with Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk mjuk (“soft”), Norwegian Bokmål myk (“soft”), and Danish myg (“supple”), Dutch muik (“soft, overripe”), dialectal German mauch (“dry and decayed, rotten”), Mauche (“malanders”). Compare as well Welsh mwyth (“soft, weak”), Latin ēmungō (“to blow one's nose”), Tocharian A muk- (“to let go, give up”), Lithuanian mùkti (“to slip away from”), Ancient Greek μύσσομαι (mússomai, “to blow the nose”), Sanskrit मु॒ञ्चति॑ (muñcáti, “to release, let loose”).

94 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: мек (mek) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Bulgarian: кротък (krotǎk) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Czech: skromný — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Czech: mírný — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Czech: pokorný — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Danish: ydmyg — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Danish: sagtmodig — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Dutch: gedwee — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Dutch: zachtmoedig — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Finnish: nöyrä — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Finnish: vaatimaton — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• French: humble — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• French: modeste — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Galician: modesto — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: sanftmütig — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: bescheiden — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: zaghaft — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: zurückhaltend — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: fromm — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: demütig — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: sanft — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: hold — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: lammfromm — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• German: moderat — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Greek: ταπεινός (tapeinós) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Greek: σεμνός (semnós) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Greek: πράος (práos) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Ancient Greek: πρᾶος (prâos) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Hungarian: szerény — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Indonesian: rendah hati — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Italian: modesto — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Italian: timido — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Italian: introverso — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Italian: schivo — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Italian: pavido — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Macedonian: кроток (krotok) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Māori: māhaki — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Māori: haki — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Norwegian: blyg — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Norwegian Bokmål: ydmyk — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Norwegian Bokmål: saktmodig — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Old Church Slavonic: кротъкъ (krotŭkŭ) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Persian: فروتن (forutan) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Polish: cichy — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Polish: pokorny — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Polish: arcyskromny — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Portuguese: modesto — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Romanian: umil — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Romanian: modest — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Russian: кро́ткий (krótkij) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Russian: мягкий (mjaxkij) — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Scottish Gaelic: macanta — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Spanish: modesto — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Swedish: ödmjuk — humble, modest, or self-effacing
• Asturian: mansu — submissive, dispirited
• Bulgarian: смирен (smiren) — submissive, dispirited
• Bulgarian: покорен (pokoren) — submissive, dispirited
• Czech: poddajný — submissive, dispirited
• Czech: pokorný — submissive, dispirited
• Czech: mírný — submissive, dispirited
• Czech: tichý — submissive, dispirited
• Finnish: alistuva — submissive, dispirited
• French: soumis — submissive, dispirited
• French: faible — submissive, dispirited
• Galician: manso — submissive, dispirited
• Galician: dondo — submissive, dispirited
• Galician: submiso — submissive, dispirited
• German: unterwürfig — submissive, dispirited
• German: kleinlaut — submissive, dispirited
• German: widerstandslos — submissive, dispirited
• German: duldsam — submissive, dispirited
• German: ergeben — submissive, dispirited
• German: gottergeben — submissive, dispirited
• Greek: πειθήνιος (peithínios) — submissive, dispirited
• Hungarian: alázatos — submissive, dispirited
• Hungarian: beletörődő — submissive, dispirited
• Italian: rassegnato — submissive, dispirited
• Italian: remissivo — submissive, dispirited
• Italian: sommesso — submissive, dispirited
• Persian: سربهزیر (sar-be-zir) — submissive, dispirited
• Polish: arcyskromny — submissive, dispirited
• Portuguese: submisso — submissive, dispirited
• Portuguese: manso — submissive, dispirited
• Romanian: supus — submissive, dispirited
• Russian: безро́потный (bezrópotnyj) — submissive, dispirited
• Russian: поко́рный (pokórnyj) — submissive, dispirited
• Spanish: humilde — submissive, dispirited
• Spanish: resignado — submissive, dispirited
• Spanish: sumiso — submissive, dispirited
• Spanish: manso — submissive, dispirited
• Swedish: undergiven — submissive, dispirited
• Finnish: kesyttää — to tame, to break
• German: zähmen — to tame, to break
• Russian: укрощать (ukroščatʹ) — to tame, to break