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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

beckon.

To wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈbɛkən/UK
  1. To wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer.

    ambitransitive
  2. To seem attractive and inviting.

    ambitransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian, bīecnan (“to signal; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn, *bauknijan (“to signal”), from *baukn (“signal; beacon”). Cognate with Old Saxon bōknian, Old High German bouhnen, Old Norse bákna. More at beacon.

noun/ˈbɛkən/UK
  1. A sign made without words; a beck.

  2. A children's game similar to hide and seek in which children who have been "caught" may escape if they see another hider beckon to them.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian, bīecnan (“to signal; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn, *bauknijan (“to signal”), from *baukn (“signal; beacon”). Cognate with Old Saxon bōknian, Old High German bouhnen, Old Norse bákna. More at beacon.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.