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Added 8 October 2026

neck

/ˈnɛk/ noun

In Latin: collum, cervīx Wiktionary

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

The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.
Giraffes have long necks.
The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.
The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.

verb

To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate.
Go neck yourself.
To intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle.
Alan and Betty were necking in the back of a car when Betty's dad caught them.
To drink or swallow rapidly.

noun

A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.

Origin

From Middle English nekke, nakke, from Old English hnecca, *hnæcca (“neck, nape”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnakkō, from Proto-Germanic *hnakkô (“nape, neck”), from Proto-Indo-European *knog-, *kneg- (“back of the head, nape, neck”). Cognate with Scots nek (“neck”), North Frisian neek, neeke, Nak (“neck”), Saterland Frisian Näkke (“neck”), West Frisian nekke (“neck”), Dutch nek (“neck”), German Low German Nack (“neck”), German Nacken (“nape of the neck”), Danish nakke (“neck”), Swedish nacke (“nape of the neck”), Icelandic hnakki (“neck”), Tocharian A kñuk (“neck, nape”).

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

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