reek

Meanings

Noun

• A strong unpleasant smell.
• Vapour; steam; smoke; fume.
• A hill; a mountain.

Verb

• To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
• To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.
• To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.
• To emit smoke or vapour; to steam.

Origin

• From Middle English rek, reke, from Old English rēc, rīec, from Proto-West Germanic *rauki, from Proto-Germanic *raukiz (compare West Frisian reek, riik, Dutch rook, Low German Röök, German Rauch, Danish røg, Norwegian Bokmål røyk), from Proto-Indo-European *rowgi- (compare Lithuanian rū̃kti, rū̃kas, Albanian regj).
• From Middle English reken, from Old English rēocan, from Proto-Germanic *reukaną (compare Dutch ruiken, Low German rüken, German riechen, Danish ryge, Swedish ryka), from Proto-Indo-European *rougi-. See above.
• Probably a transferred use (after Irish cruach) of a variant of rick, with which it is cognate.