creek
pronunciation
How to pronounce creek in British English:
UK [kriːk]
How to pronounce creek in American English:
US [kriːk]
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- Noun:
- a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)
Word Origin
- creek
- creek: [13] Now firmly associated with watercourse, the original connotations of creek seem to have been of ‘narrow and secluded bendiness’. It appears to have been borrowed from Old Norse kriki ‘nook’, which some have speculated may be related to Old Norse krōkr ‘hook’ (source of English crook). Creek remains strictly a word for narrow waterways, a reminder of its beginnings.=> crook
- creek (n.)
- mid-15c., creke "narrow inlet in a coastline," altered from kryk (early 13c.; in place names from 12c.), probably from Old Norse kriki "corner, nook," perhaps influenced by Anglo-French crique, itself from a Scandinavian source via Norman. Perhaps ultimately related to crook and with an original notion of "full of bends and turns" (compare dialectal Swedish krik "corner, bend; creek, cove"). Extended to "inlet or short arm of a river" by 1570s, which probably led to use for "small stream, brook" in American English (1620s). Also used there and in Canada, Australia, New Zealand for "branch of a main river," possibly from explorers moving up main rivers and seeing and noting mouths of tributaries without knowing they often were extensive rivers of their own. Slang phrase up the creek "in trouble," often especially "pregnant," first recorded 1941, perhaps originally armed forces slang for "lost while on patrol."
- Creek
- Indian tribe or confederation, 1725, named for creek, the geographical feature, and abbreviated from Ochese Creek Indians, from the place in Georgia where English first encountered them. Native name is Muskogee, a word of uncertain origin.
Example
- 1. In squaw creek , park country , wyoming .
- 2. The girl jumped across the creek and bolted alongside it .
- 3. Today , the creek is used by iranian smugglers and tourist cruise boats .
- 4. Willow creek has dozens of affinity groups for everyone from motor-cycle enthusiasts to weight-watchers .
- 5. To get to birch creek , you go to the end of our street where you hit sixteenth avenue .