seek

See also: Seek and sek

English

Etymology

From Middle English seken (also sechen, whence dialectal English seech), from Old English sēċan (compare beseech); from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”).

Cognate with West Frisian sykje, Dutch zoeken, Low German söken, German suchen, Danish søge, Icelandic sækja, Norwegian Bokmål søke, Norwegian Nynorsk søkja, Swedish söka. The Middle English and later Modern English hard /k/ derives from Old English sēcð, the third person singular; the forms with /k/ were then reinforced by cognate Old Norse sǿkja.

Pronunciation

enPR: sēk, IPA^(key): /siːk/
Audio (US) (file)
Homophone: Sikh
Rhymes: -iːk

Verb

seek (third-person singular simple present seeks, present participle seeking, simple past and past participle sought)

(transitive, intransitive) To try to find; to look for; to search for.
I seek wisdom.
- 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
  Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. […] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
(transitive) To ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
I seek forgiveness through repentance.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke xi:16:
  Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.
- 1960, Lobsang Rampa, The Rampa Story:
  “My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.
(transitive) To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.
I sought my fortune on the goldfields.
- 1880, George Q. Cannon, How the Gospel is Preached By the Elders, etc.:
  But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.
- 1886, Constantine Popoff, translation of Leo Tolstoy's What I Believe:
  I can no longer seek fame or glory, nor can I help trying to get rid of my riches, which separate me from my fellow-creatures.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:
  Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
(intransitive, obsolete) To go, move, travel (in a given direction).
- 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:
  Ryght so he sought […] towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes
  (please add an English translation of this quote)
(transitive) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.
When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Amos 5:5:
  Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
- 1725, Homer; [William Broome], transl., “Book II”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646, line 33:
  Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains
(intransitive, sometimes proscribed) To attempt, endeavour, try
Our company does not seek to limit its employees from using the internet or engaging in social networking.
(intransitive, computing) To navigate through a stream.
Synonym: scrub
- 2009, Jit Ghosh, Rob Cameron, Silverlight 2 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (page 541)
  Most of the changes made to this control are to accommodate the various constraints that playback of streaming media may impose in broadcast streams, such as the inability to seek through the media.

Usage notes

The word is sometimes used to mean "try" or "want". This usage is criticized by Fowler in the entry "Formal Words".

Conjugation

Conjugation of seek

infinitive	(to) seek
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	seek	sought
2nd-person singular	seek, seekest^†	sought, soughtest^†
3rd-person singular	seeks, seeketh^†	sought
plural	seek	sought

subjunctive	seek	sought

imperative	seek	—

participles	seeking	sought

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Quotations

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:seek.

Synonyms

look for
search

Derived terms

aseek
beseek
foreseek
forseek
misseek
outseek
seek for
seek out
underseek
upseek

Related terms

hide and seek
seeker

Translations

to try to find

Afrikaans: soek (af)
Albanian: kërkoj (sq)
Arabic: بَحَثَ‎ (ar) (baḥaṯa), طَلَبَ‎ (ar) (ṭalaba)
Egyptian Arabic: دور‎ (dawwar)
Armenian: փնտրել (hy) (pʿntrel)
Aromanian: caftu (roa-rup), tser
Asturian: buscar (ast), guetar (ast)
Azerbaijani: axtarmaq (az), aramaq
Belarusian: шука́ць impf (šukácʹ)
Bengali: খোঁজা (bn) (khõja)
Bulgarian: тъ́рся (bg) impf (tǎ́rsja), тараша (taraša)
Burmese: ရှာ (my) (hra)
Catalan: cercar (ca)
Chechen: леха (lexa)
Cherokee: ᎤᏲᎭ (uyoha)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 搵 (yue), 揾 (yue) (wan²)
Mandarin: 找 (zh) (zhǎo), 找尋／找寻 (zh) (zhǎoxún), 尋找／寻找 (zh) (xúnzhǎo), 搜索 (zh) (sōusuǒ)
Czech: hledat (cs)
Danish: søge (da)
Dutch: zoeken (nl), nastreven (nl)
Esperanto: serĉi (eo)
Estonian: otsima (et)
Even: гэлэт- (gələt-)
Evenki: гэлэ- (gələ-)
Faroese: søkja
Finnish: etsiä (fi), hakea (fi)
French: chercher (fr)
Friulian: cirî
Galician: buscar (gl)
Georgian: ძებნა (ka) (ʒebna)
German: suchen (de)
Alemannic German: sueche
Gothic: 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan), 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰𐌽 (bisaiƕan)
Greek: ζητώ (el) (zitó)
Ancient: ζητέω (zētéō)
Hebrew: חִפֵּשׂ‎ (he) (khipés)
Hindi: ढूँढ़ना (hi) (ḍhū̃ṛhnā), ढूँढना (hi) (ḍhūṇḍhnā), खोजना (hi) (khojnā)
Hungarian: keres (hu), kutat (hu)
Icelandic: leita (is)
Ido: serchar (io)
Indonesian: mencari (id), mencari-cari (id)
Ingush: лаха (laxa)
Italian: cercare (it), ricercare (it)
Japanese: 探す (ja) (さがす, sagasu), 探し回る (さがしまわる, sagashi-mawaru)
Javanese: golèk
Karakhanid: اِرْتاماكْ‎ (irtēmēk), اِسْتاماكْ‎ (istēmēk)
Khmer: ស្វែងរក (svaeng rɔɔk)
Korean: 찾다 (ko) (chatda), 추구하다 (ko) (chuguhada)
Ladino: bushkar
Lao: ຫາ (hā), ຊອກ (sǭk), ຊອກຫາ (sǭk hā)
Latin: quaerō (la)
Latvian: meklēt
Lithuanian: ieškoti (lt)
Low German:
German Low German: söken (nds)
Macedonian: бара impf (bara), трага impf (traga)
Malay: mencari
Malayalam: തിരയുക (ml) (tirayuka), നോക്കുക (ml) (nōkkuka), തേടുക (ml) (tēṭuka)
Maltese: fittex
Maori: auhaha, haha, kimi, kimikimi, rapa, rapu, rapurapu, whakarapu, pōrangi, raparapa, hāhau, ngaropoko (in a game of hide and seek)
Mongolian: эрэх (mn) (erex), хайх (mn) (xajx)
Nepali: खोज्नु (khojnu)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: søke (no), lete (no)
Occitan: cercar (oc), boscar (oc)
Old English: sēċan, nēosian
Papiamentu: buska
Persian: جستجو کردن‎ (fa) (jostoju kardan), جستن‎ (fa) (jostan)
Plautdietsch: sieekjen no
Polish: poszukiwać (pl) impf, szukać (pl) impf
Portuguese: procurar (pt)
Quechua: ashiy, maskhay (qu), maskai, aşii
Romanian: căuta (ro)
Russian: иска́ть (ru) impf (iskátʹ), разы́скивать (ru) impf (razýskivatʹ), пыта́ться найти́ impf (pytátʹsja najtí)
Scottish Gaelic: lorg, sir, iarr
Serbo-Croatian: тра́жити impf, trážiti (sh) impf
Slovak: hľadať (sk) impf
Slovene: iskati (sl) impf
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: pytaś impf
Spanish: buscar (es)
Old Spanish: buscar
Swahili: kutafuta
Swedish: söka (sv), leta (sv)
Tabaru: tike
Tajik: ҷустуҷӯ кардан (justujü kardan)
Ternate: tike
Thai: มองหา (mɔɔng-hǎa)
Turkish: aramak (tr)
Turkmen: agtarmak (tk)
Ukrainian: шука́ти (uk) impf (šukáty)
Urdu: ڈھونڈھنا‎ (ḍhū̃ḍhnā)
Uzbek: axtarmoq (uz), qidirmoq (uz)
Venetian: risercar
Vietnamese: tìm (vi), tìm kiếm (vi)
Walloon: cweri (wa)
Welsh: chwilio am
West Frisian: sykje (fy)
ǃXóõ: ǃxáa

to ask for

Bulgarian: искам (bg) (iskam)
Finnish: pyytää (fi), anella (fi), anoa (fi)

to try to acquire or gain

Finnish: tavoitella (fi), etsiä (fi), hakea (fi)

to travel (in a given direction)

Finnish: pyrkiä (jotakin kohti)

to try to reach or come to

Bulgarian: стремя се (stremja se)
Finnish: pyrkiä (jonnekin), etsiä (fi)

(computing) to navigate a stream

Finnish: kelata (fi), hakea (fi)

Noun

seek (plural seeks)

(computing) The operation of navigating through a stream.
- 2012, Aidong Zhang, Avi Silberschatz, Sharad Mehrotra, Continuous Media Databases (page 120)
  The number of seeks to retrieve a shot […] depends on the location of those frames on physical blocks.

Anagrams

eeks, ekes, kees, seke, skee

Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German sêkhûs (“hospital”) (equivalent to sêk +‎ hûs). From Proto-West Germanic *seuk, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *seukaz (“sick”). Compare German Siechenhaus (“infirmary”), English sickhouse.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈseːk/
Rhymes: -eːk
Hyphenation: seek

Noun

seek (genitive seegi, partitive seeki)

almshouse
1. A residence and shelter for sick people in the Middle Ages.
2. (colloquial) A nursing home, retirement home; poorhouse

Declension

Declension of seek (type riik)

	singular	plural
nominative	seek	seegid
genitive	seegi	seekide
partitive	seeki	seeke / seekisid
illative	seeki / seegisse	seekidesse / seegesse
inessive	seegis	seekides / seeges
elative	seegist	seekidest / seegest
allative	seegile	seekidele / seegele
adessive	seegil	seekidel / seegel
ablative	seegilt	seekidelt / seegelt
translative	seegiks	seekideks / seegeks
terminative	seegini	seekideni
essive	seegina	seekidena
abessive	seegita	seekideta
comitative	seegiga	seekidega

References

seek in Sõnaveeb