kick
/kɪk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.72 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Did you kick your brother?"
- "1895, George MacDonald, Lilith, Chapter XII: Friends and Foes, I was cuffed by the women and kicked by the men because I would not swallow it."
- "A punt is made by letting the ball drop from the hands and kicking it just before it touches the ground."
- "Will Henderson, who had on a light overcoat and no overshoes, kicked the heel of his left foot with the toe of the right."
- "Or to put it in the more colourful language of our Prime Minister: "The secret to improving rail transport, in my view, is you need to find the right arse to kick." Unfortunately, since the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in 2005, the DfT has ostensibly been in direct control of railway policy setting, and this has meant that the only arse the government has been able to kick is its own."
- "He enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching the kickline kick."
Etymology
From Middle English kyken (“to strike out with the foot”), from Old Norse kikna (“to sink at the knees”) and keikja (“to bend backwards”) (compare Old Norse keikr (“bent backwards, the belly jutting forward”)), from Proto-Germanic *kaikaz (“bent backwards”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kī-, *kij- (“to split, dodge, swerve sidewards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyH- (“to sprout, shoot”). Compare also Dutch kijken (“to look”), Middle Low German kīken (“to look, watch”). See keek.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: kyken, kikna, *kaikaz, *kī-, *ǵeyH-
Usage
Inflected Forms
kicks (present, singular)
kicking (participle, present)
kicked (participle, past)
kicked (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
kicked (first person, past)
kickest (archaic, present)
kicked (past, second person)
kickedst (archaic, past)
kicketh (archaic, present)
kicked (past, singular)
Derived Forms
Phrases
axe kick
banana kick
be left kicking
bicycle kick
box kick
butterfly kick
butt-kicking
crescent kick