quicken

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• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkwɪk(ə)n/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɪkən
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• CMU ARPABET: K W IH1 K AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English quiken (“(chiefly in place names) probably the European rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and possibly also the aspen (Populus tremula), juniper (genus Juniperus, specifically the common juniper (Juniperus communis)), or service tree (Sorbus domestica)”), possibly from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”) (see etymology 1).

From Middle English quiken (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms], a variant of quich, quik (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms] (whence modern English quick, quitch (“couch grass, quitchgrass”); the -en element remains unexplained), from Old English cwiċe (“couch grass”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”); see further at etymology 1.

From Middle English quikenen (“to become alive again after dying; to raise (someone) from the dead; to regain consciousness or strength; to give vitality, revive; to regain validity; to nourish; to spare (the life of someone or something); to ignite; to illuminate; of events: to happen more quickly; of clouds: to form”) [and other forms], from quiken (“to come to life; to become alive again after dying; to give or regain vitality, revive; of a seed: to germinate, grow; to arouse (anger); to inspire; to reinforce, strengthen; to make (a substance) alchemically active; to nourish, sustain; to sharpen; to ignite; to illuminate; of news: to spread”) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive forms of verbs). Quiken is derived from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”), from cwic (“alive, live, living; mentally agile; intelligent, keen”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”) and Proto-Indo-European *gweyh3- (“to live”)) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). The English word may be analysed as quick (“moving with swiftness; occurring in a short time; (archaic) alive, living; (archaic) pregnant”) + -en (suffix attached to some adjectives forming transitive verbs meaning ‘to make [adjective]’). Cognates * Danish kvikne (“to quicken, revive”) * Icelandic kvikna (“to ignite; to turn on”) * Swedish kvickna (“to revive”)

From quick(silver) (“mercury”) + -en (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: أَحْيَا (ʔaḥyā) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Bulgarian: оживявам (oživjavam) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Bulgarian: възбуждам (vǎzbuždam) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Chinese Mandarin: (使)复原 — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Chinese Mandarin: 使有活力 (shǐ yǒu huó lì) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Finnish: elvyttää — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Finnish: herättää henkiin — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Georgian: გამოცოცხლება (gamococxleba) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Georgian: გაცოცხლება (gacocxleba) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Russian: оживи́ть (oživítʹ) — to give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead) — see also animate, resurrect, revive
• Arabic: سَرَّعَ (sarraʕa) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Belarusian: паскара́ць (paskarácʹ) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Belarusian: паско́рыць (paskórycʹ) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Bulgarian: ускорявам (uskorjavam) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Bulgarian: забързвам (zabǎrzvam) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Finnish: nopeuttaa — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Finnish: pikaistaa — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Finnish: vauhdittaa — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Galician: axilizar — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Georgian: დაჩქარება (dačkareba) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Georgian: ასწრაფება (asc̣rapeba) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Latin: accelerō — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Portuguese: agilizar — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Russian: ускоря́ть (uskorjátʹ) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Russian: уско́рить (uskóritʹ) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Spanish: agilizar — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Ukrainian: приско́рювати (pryskórjuvaty) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Ukrainian: приско́рити (pryskóryty) — to make (something) quicker — see also hasten, speed up
• Irish: géaraigh — to become quicker or faster