Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

week

[ˈwɪi̯k]

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.56 in modern English

Syllables
week
IPA
[ˈwɪi̯k]
11
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A period of seven days beginning with Sunday or Monday.

noun

A period of five days beginning with Monday.

noun

A date seven days after (sometimes before) the specified day.

intj

The squeal of a pig.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyg-der. Proto-Germanic *wikǭ Proto-West Germanic *wikā Old English wice Middle English wyke English week From Middle English wyke, weke, from Old English wice, wucu (“week”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikā, from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; week”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg-, *weyk- (“to bend, curve”). Related to weak and dialectal English wick (“corner”); see Proto-Germanic *wīk(w)aną (“to bend, yield, cease”). Cognates Cognate with Scots ouk, oulk (“week”), Yola wick, wik (“week”), North Frisian waag, Week, weg (“week”), Saterland Frisian Wiek, Wíek (“week”), West Frisian wike (“week”), Bavarian Wochn (“week”), Cimbrian boch, bòcha (“week”), Dutch week (“week”), German Woche (“week”), German Low German Week (“week”), Limburgish waek, Wéëk (“week”), Luxembourgish Woch (“week”), Mòcheno boch (“week”), Vilamovian woch (“week”), Yiddish וואָך (vokh, “week”), Danish uge (“week”), Elfdalian wiku, wikå (“week”), Faroese and Icelandic vika (“week”), Jamtish vuku (“week”), Norwegian Bokmål uke (“week”), Norwegian Nynorsk veke, vika, viku, vukku, vuku (“week”), Scanian uga (“week”), Swedish vecka (“week”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō, “sequence; week”); also Cornish gwigh (“periwinkles, whelks”), Irish faocha, faochóg (“periwinkle”), Latin vicis (“alteration, turn; time”), Ancient Greek εἴκω (eíkō, “to yield”), Albanian vig (“bier, litter, stretcher”), Northern Kurdish avêtin, avitin, avîtin, havêtin, havîtin (“to cast, hurl, throw”), Persian آویختَن (âvixtan, “to hang, suspend”), بیختن (bēxtan / bixtan, “to sieve, sift”). Related also to Old English wīcan (“to yield, give way”), English weak and wick.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: wyke, wice, *wikā, *wikǭ, *weyg-

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce week?
The recorded pronunciation is [ˈwɪi̯k].
What does week mean?
Any period of seven consecutive days.
Where does week come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce week

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “week”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling ([ˈwɪi̯k]) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “week”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “week” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.