Reek vs Wreak - What's the difference?
reek | wreak |
A strong unpleasant smell.
Vapor; steam; smoke; fume.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.
To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
(figuratively) To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.
(Ireland) A hill; a mountain.
To cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury.
* Macaulay
(archaic) To inflict or take vengeance on.
* 1874 ,
* 1856-1885 —
* {{quote-book
, year=1917
, year_published=2008
, edition=HTML
, editor=
, author=Edgar Rice Burroughs
, title=A Princess of Mars
, chapter=
(archaic) To take vengeance for.
* Fairfax
(archaic, literary) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
* 1903 , George Chapman, Richard Herne Shepherd, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Works of George Chapman :
* 2003 , John Foxe, John Cumming, Book of Martyrs and the Acts and Monuments of the Church :
* 2006 , The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - Volume 2 - Page 188:
(archaic, literary) Punishment; retribution; payback.
* 1885': Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her '''wreak on me this moment — Sir Richard Burton, ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night , Night 19
As nouns the difference between reek and wreak
is that reek is a strong unpleasant smell while wreak is revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.As verbs the difference between reek and wreak
is that reek is to be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume while wreak is to cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury.reek
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) rek, ‘smoke, fog’, Albanian regj ‘to tan’).Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology , s.vv. “*raukiz”, “*reukanan”(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 299:303.Noun
(-)- As hateful to me as the reek of a limekiln.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) reken ‘to smoke’, from (etyl) . See above.Verb
(en verb)- You reek of perfume.
- Your fridge reeks of egg.
- The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.
Etymology 3
Probably a transferred use (after Irish cruach stack (of corn), pile, mountain, hill) of a variant of rick (with which it is cognate).Noun
(s)References
* * * * * Notes:Anagrams
* ----wreak
English
Etymology 1
(etyl) wrecan, from (etyl) ; cognate via PIE with Latin urgere (English urge), and distantly cognate to English wreck.Verb
- The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city.
- She wreaked her anger on his car.
- Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years.
- ''their woe
- ''Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak
- ''Itself abroad;
- Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.
citation, genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, … }}
- Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
Usage notes
The verb wreak'' is generally used in the form “wreak ''damage or harm of some sort'' (on ''something )”, and is often used in the set phrase wreak havoc, though “wreak damage”, “wreak destruction”, and “wreak revenge” are also common. Not to be confused with wreck, with similar meaning of destruction and similar etymological roots; common confusion in misspelling wreck havoc. It has become common to use wrought, the original past tense and participle for work, as the past tense and past participle for wreak'', as in ''wrought havoc'' (i.e. ''worked havoc'' for ''wreaked havoc''), due both to the fact that the weak form ''worked'' has edged out ''wrought'' from its former role almost entirely (except as an adjective referring usually to hand-worked metal goods), and via confusion from the ''wr-'' beginning both ''wreak'' and ''wrought , and probably by analogy with seek).Derived terms
* wreak havocEtymology 2
From (etyl) wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare (etyl) wraak.Noun
(en noun)- However, no thought touch'd Minerva's mind, That any one should escape his wreak design'd.
- For three causes Duke William entered this land to subdue Harold. One was, for that it was to him given by King Edward his nephew. The second was, to take wreak for the cruel murder of his nephew Alfred, King Edward's brother, and of the Normans, which deed he ascribed chiefly to Harold.
- Would that before my death I might but see my son The empery in my stead over the people hold And rush upon his foes and take on them his wreak , At push of sword and pike, in fury uncontrolled.