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Added 30 September 2026

creep

/kɹiːp/ verb

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about creep at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To move slowly with the abdomen close to the ground.
Lizards and snakes crept over the ground.
To grow across a surface rather than upwards.
To move slowly and quietly in a particular direction.
He tried to creep past the guard without being seen.

noun

The movement of something that creeps (like worms or snails).
A relatively small gradual change, variation or deviation (from a planned value) in a measure.
A slight displacement of an object; the slight movement of something.

Origin

From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *kreupan, from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ- (“to turn, wind”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian krûpe (“to creep, crawl”), Central Franconian kruffe (“to creep, crawl”), Dutch kruipen (“to creep, crawl”), Low German krepen, krupen (“to creep, crawl”), Danish krybe (“to creep”), Faroese krúpa (“to creep”), Icelandic krjúpa (“to kneel down, to genuflect, to get down on one's knees”), Norwegian Bokmål krype (“to creep”), Norwegian Nynorsk krjupa, krjupe, krypa, krype (“to creep, crawl”), Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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