geek
/ɡiːk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.61 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who is intensely interested in a particular field or hobby and often having limited or nonstandard social skills. Often used with an attributive noun.
Colloquial
noun
The subculture of geeks; an esoteric subject of interest that is marginal to the social mainstream; the philosophy, events, and physical artifacts of geeks; geekness.
Colloquial; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "I once saw a geek bite the head off a live chicken."
- "You hand in your ticket / And you go watch the geek / Who immediately walks up to you / When he hears you speak / And says, “How does it feel to / be such a freak?”"
- "I was a complete computer geek in high school, but I get out a lot more now."
- "Most famous actors are really theater geeks at heart."
- "My laptop’s locked up again. I need a geek."
- "I challenge these geeks to show a little spirit and produce an 81 tier bonfire by Friday night. It would also be nice to see a few kegs and some spirit around their awaited creation each night. Until then I rest my case."
Etymology
Started as carnival slang, likely from the British dialectal term geck (“a fool, dupe, simpleton”) (1510s), apparently from Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gække, Norwegian gakke, Swedish gäcka). The root still survives in the Dutch adjective noun gek (“crazy" or "crazy person”). Compare gink and also Old Norse gikkr (“a pert, rude person; jester; fool”).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡiːk/
- British English: /ɡiːk/