seek

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• /ˈsiːk/
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• [ˈsɪi̯k]
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -iːk
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• homophone: Sikh
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• CMU ARPABET: S IY1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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* 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.

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.

183 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: soek — to try to find
• Albanian: kërkoj — to try to find
• Southern Altai: истеер (isteer) — to try to find
• Chungli Ao: bushi — to try to find
• Chungli Ao: aeim — to try to find
• Arabic: بَحَثَ (baḥaṯa) — to try to find
• Arabic: طَلَبَ (ṭalaba) — to try to find
• Arabic: دور (dawwar) — to try to find
• Armenian: փնտրել (pʻntrel) — to try to find
• Aromanian: caftu (roa-rup) — to try to find
• Aromanian: tser — to try to find
• Asturian: buscar — to try to find
• Asturian: guetar — to try to find
• Azerbaijani: axtarmaq — to try to find
• Azerbaijani: aramaq — to try to find
• Bangi: tombo — to try to find
• Belarusian: шука́ць (šukácʹ) — to try to find
• Bengali: খোঁজা (khō̃ja) — to try to find
• Bulgarian: тъ́рся (tǎ́rsja) — to try to find
• Bulgarian: тараша (taraša) — to try to find
• Burmese: ရှာ (hra) — to try to find
• Catalan: cercar — to try to find
• Catalan: buscar — to try to find
• Chechen: леха (lexa) — to try to find
• Cherokee: ᎤᏲᎭ (uyoha) — to try to find
• Chinese Cantonese: 搵 /揾 (wan2) — to try to find
• Chinese Mandarin: 找 (zhǎo) — to try to find
• Chinese Mandarin: 找尋 /找寻 (zhǎoxún) — to try to find
• Chinese Mandarin: 尋找 /寻找 (xúnzhǎo) — to try to find
• Chinese Mandarin: 搜索 (sōusuǒ) — to try to find
• Chuvash: шыра (šyra) — to try to find
• Czech: hledat — to try to find
• Danish: søge — to try to find
• Dutch: zoeken — to try to find
• Dutch: nastreven — to try to find
• Esperanto: serĉi — to try to find
• Estonian: otsima — to try to find
• Even: гэлэт- (gələt-) — to try to find
• Evenki: гэлэ- (gələ-) — to try to find
• Faroese: søkja — to try to find
• Finnish: etsiä — to try to find
• Finnish: hakea — to try to find
• French: chercher — to try to find
• West-Frisian: sykje — to try to find
• Friulian: cirî — to try to find
• Galician: buscar — to try to find
• Georgian: ძებნა (ʒebna) — to try to find
• German: suchen — to try to find
• German: sueche — to try to find
• Gothic: 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan) — to try to find
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰𐌽 (bisaiƕan) — to try to find
• Greek: ζητώ (zitó) — to try to find
• Ancient Greek: ζητέω (zētéō) — to try to find
• Ancient Greek: ἰχνεύω (ikhneúō) — to try to find
• Hebrew: חִפֵּשׂ (khipés) — to try to find
• Hindi: ढूँढ़ना (ḍhū̃ṛhnā) — to try to find
• Hindi: ढूँढना (ḍhūṇḍhnā) — to try to find
• Hindi: खोजना (khojnā) — to try to find
• Hungarian: keres — to try to find
• Hungarian: kutat — to try to find
• Icelandic: leita — to try to find
• Ido: serchar — to try to find
• Indonesian: mencari — to try to find
• Indonesian: mencari-cari — to try to find
• Ingush: лаха (laxa) — to try to find
• Italian: cercare — to try to find
• Italian: ricercare — to try to find
• Japanese: 探す (sagasu) — to try to find
• Japanese: 探し回る (sagashi-mawaru) — to try to find
• Javanese: golèk — to try to find
• Karakhanid: اِرْتاماكْ (irtēmēk) — to try to find
• Karakhanid: اِسْتاماكْ (istēmēk) — to try to find
• Khmer: ស្វែងរក (svaeng rɔɔk) — to try to find
• Korean: 찾다 (chatda) — to try to find
• Korean: 추구하다 (chuguhada) — to try to find
• Kyrgyz: издөө (izdöö) — to try to find
• Ladino: bushkar — to try to find
• Lao: ຫາ (hā) — to try to find
• Lao: ຊອກ (sǭk) — to try to find
• Lao: ຊອກຫາ (sǭk hā) — to try to find
• Latin: quaerō — to try to find
• Latvian: meklēt — to try to find
• Lingala: tombo — to try to find
• Lithuanian: ieškoti — to try to find
• Low German: söken — to try to find
• Macedonian: бара (bara) — to try to find
• Macedonian: трага (traga) — to try to find
• Malay: mencari — to try to find
• Malayalam: തിരയുക (tirayuka) — to try to find
• Malayalam: നോക്കുക (nōkkuka) — to try to find
• Malayalam: തേടുക (tēṭuka) — to try to find
• Maltese: fittex — to try to find
• Māori: auhaha — to try to find
• Māori: haha — to try to find
• Māori: kimi — to try to find
• Māori: kimikimi — to try to find
• Māori: rapa — to try to find
• Māori: rapu — to try to find
• Māori: rapurapu — to try to find
• Māori: whakarapu — to try to find
• Māori: pōrangi — to try to find
• Māori: raparapa — to try to find
• Māori: hāhau — to try to find
• Māori: ngaropoko — to try to find
• Mongolian: эрэх (erex) — to try to find
• Mongolian: хайх (xajx) — to try to find
• Nepali: खोज्नु (khojnu) — to try to find
• Norwegian Bokmål: søke — to try to find
• Norwegian Bokmål: lete — to try to find
• Occitan: cercar — to try to find
• Occitan: boscar — to try to find
• Old English: sēċan — to try to find
• Old English: nēosian — to try to find
• Papiamentu: buska — to try to find
• Persian: جستجو کردن (jostoju kardan) — to try to find
• Persian: جستن (jostan) — to try to find
• Plautdietsch: sieekjen no — to try to find
• Polish: poszukiwać — to try to find
• Polish: szukać — to try to find
• Portuguese: procurar — to try to find
• Quechua: ashiy — to try to find
• Quechua: maskhay — to try to find
• Quechua: maskai — to try to find
• Quechua: aşii — to try to find
• Romanian: căuta — to try to find
• Russian: иска́ть (iskátʹ) — to try to find
• Russian: разы́скивать (razýskivatʹ) — to try to find
• Russian: пыта́ться найти́ (pytátʹsja najtí) — to try to find
• Scottish Gaelic: lorg — to try to find
• Scottish Gaelic: sir — to try to find
• Scottish Gaelic: iarr — to try to find
• Serbo-Croatian: тра́жити — to try to find
• Serbo-Croatian: trážiti — to try to find
• Slovak: hľadať — to try to find
• Slovene: iskati — to try to find
• Lower Sorbian: pytaś — to try to find
• Spanish: buscar — to try to find
• Old Spanish: buscar — to try to find
• Swahili: kutafuta — to try to find
• Swedish: söka — to try to find
• Swedish: leta — to try to find
• Tabaru: tike — to try to find
• Tajik: ҷустуҷӯ кардан (justujü kardan) — to try to find
• Ternate: tike — to try to find
• Thai: มองหา (mɔɔng-hǎa) — to try to find
• Turkish: aramak — to try to find
• Turkmen: agtarmak — to try to find
• Ukrainian: шука́ти (šukáty) — to try to find
• Urdu: ڈھونڈھنا (ḍhū̃ḍhnā) — to try to find
• Uzbek: axtarmoq — to try to find
• Uzbek: qidirmoq — to try to find
• Venetan: risercar — to try to find
• Vietnamese: tìm — to try to find
• Vietnamese: tìm kiếm — to try to find
• Walloon: cweri — to try to find
• Welsh: chwilio am — to try to find
• ǃXóõ: ǃxáa — to try to find
• Bulgarian: искам (iskam) — to ask for
• Catalan: voler aconseguir — to ask for
• Esperanto: peti — to ask for
• Finnish: pyytää — to ask for
• Finnish: anella — to ask for
• Finnish: anoa — to ask for
• French: quérir — to ask for
• Italian: chiedere — to ask for
• Italian: chierere — to ask for
• Latin: quaerō — to ask for
• Latin: volō obtinēre — to ask for
• Portuguese: pedir — to ask for
• Spanish: pedir — to ask for
• Finnish: tavoitella — to try to acquire or gain
• Finnish: etsiä — to try to acquire or gain
• Finnish: hakea — to try to acquire or gain
• Finnish: pyrkiä (jotakin kohti) — to travel (in a given direction)
• Bulgarian: стремя се (stremja se) — to try to reach or come to
• Finnish: pyrkiä (jonnekin) — to try to reach or come to
• Finnish: etsiä — to try to reach or come to
• Esperanto: provi — to attempt, endeavour, try
• Spanish: pretender — to attempt, endeavour, try
• Spanish: buscar — to attempt, endeavour, try
• Spanish: procurar — to attempt, endeavour, try
• Finnish: kelata — (computing) to navigate a stream
• Finnish: hakea — (computing) to navigate a stream