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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

peek.

To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/piːk/
  1. To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep.

    informal · intransitive
    Close your eyes, and no peeking!
  2. To be only slightly, partially visible, as if peering out from a hiding place.

    informal · intransitive
  3. To briefly move out of cover (to gather visual information).

    informal · intransitive
    Sniper watching the site; don't peek.
  4. To take a look at; to check out.

    informal · transitive
    Peek my new shoes.
  5. To retrieve (a value) from a memory address.

    dated · informal · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *peken, piken, pyken (“to peep”), probably a fusion of Middle English pepen (“to peep”) and keken, kiken (“to keek, look, spy”), equivalent to a blend of peep + keek. Perhaps also possibly a metathetic alteration of Middle English kepen, kipen, kypen (“to keep, look, observe, watch”).

noun/piːk/
  1. A quick glance or look.

    informal
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *peken, piken, pyken (“to peep”), probably a fusion of Middle English pepen (“to peep”) and keken, kiken (“to keek, look, spy”), equivalent to a blend of peep + keek. Perhaps also possibly a metathetic alteration of Middle English kepen, kipen, kypen (“to keep, look, observe, watch”).

noun/piːk/
  1. Misspelling of pique.

    alt-of · informal · misspelling
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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.