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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nook.

A small corner formed by two walls; an alcove.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/nʊk//nʉk/Northern-Ireland, Scotland/nuːk/

  1. A small corner formed by two walls; an alcove.

    There was a small broom for sweeping ash kept in the nook between the fireplace bricks and the wall.

  2. A hidden or secluded spot; a secluded retreat.

    The back of the used book shop was one of her favorite nooks; she could read for hours and no one would bother her or pester her to buy.

  3. A recess, cove or hollow.

  4. An English unit of land area, originally ¹⁄₄ of a yardland but later 12+¹⁄₂ or 20 acres.

    historical

  5. A corner of a piece of land; an angled piece of land, especially one extending into other land.

    Northern-England · archaic

  6. The vagina-like genitalia of a troll, featured in Homestuck fanworks but not in canon.

    vulgar
Where this word comes from

From Middle English noke, nok (“nook, corner, angle”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old English hnoc, hnocc (“hook, angle”), from Proto-Germanic *hnukkaz, *hnukkô (“a bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *knewg- (“to turn, press”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“to pinch, press, bend”). If so, then also related to Scots nok (“small hook”), Norwegian dialectal nok, nokke (“hook, angle, bent object”), Danish nok (“hook”), Swedish nock (“ridge”), Faroese nokki (“crook”), Icelandic hnokki (“hook”), Dutch nok (“ridge”) or Dutch hoek (“corner”), Low German Nocke (“tip”), Old Norse hnúka (“to bend, crouch”), Old English ġehnycned (“drawn, pinched, wrinkled”). Also cognate with Scots neuk, nuk (“corner, angle of a square, angular object”).

verb/nʊk//nʉk/Northern-Ireland, Scotland/nuːk/

  1. To withdraw into a nook.

  2. To situate in a nook.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English noke, nok (“nook, corner, angle”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old English hnoc, hnocc (“hook, angle”), from Proto-Germanic *hnukkaz, *hnukkô (“a bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *knewg- (“to turn, press”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“to pinch, press, bend”). If so, then also related to Scots nok (“small hook”), Norwegian dialectal nok, nokke (“hook, angle, bent object”), Danish nok (“hook”), Swedish nock (“ridge”), Faroese nokki (“crook”), Icelandic hnokki (“hook”), Dutch nok (“ridge”) or Dutch hoek (“corner”), Low German Nocke (“tip”), Old Norse hnúka (“to bend, crouch”), Old English ġehnycned (“drawn, pinched, wrinkled”). Also cognate with Scots neuk, nuk (“corner, angle of a square, angular object”).

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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.