wreak

Meanings

Verb

• To cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm.
• To chasten, or chastise/chastize, or castigate, or punish, or smite.
• To inflict or take vengeance on.
• To take vengeance for.
• Misspelling of reek

Noun

• Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
• Punishment; retribution; payback.

Origin

• From Middle English wreken, from Old English wrecan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrekan, from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, from root *wrek-, from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- ("push, shove, drive, track down"). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Dutch wreken, German rächen, Swedish vräka; cognate via PIE with Latin Latin urgere (English urge), and distantly cognate with English wreck.
• From Middle English wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare Dutch wraak.