Etymograph

English

beck

Beck comes from Middle English bek.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bek1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1612beck1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English beck
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts: “[…]Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bekWiktionary, English beck
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1612beckWiktionary, English beck. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts: “[…]Whence, climing to the Cleeves, her selfe she firmlie…”

Every English word from Middle English bek

Another origin of beck

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to glow, light, shine’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baukną‘beacon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baukn‘sign, symbol, signal’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bēcnan‘to signify’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bekenen
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bekkenshortened form of bekenen
  7. Englishtodaybeck

Today it means

noun A stream or small river.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “beck”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English bek / beck

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