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Added 9 October 2026

shake

/ˈʃeɪk/ noun

In Latin: commoveō Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shake at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Building material used as siding or roofing.
Frothy drink of milk and flavoring and sometimes fruit or ice cream.
A note that alternates rapidly with another note a semitone above it.

verb

Move or cause to move back and forth.
The chemist shook the flask vigorously
Move with or as if with a tremor.
his hands shook
Shake or vibrate rapidly and intensively.
The old engine was juddering

Origin

From Middle English schaken, from Old English sċeacan, sċacan (“to shake”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakan, from Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, swing, escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keg-, *(s)kek- (“to jump, move”). Cognate with Scots schake, schack (“to shake”), West Frisian schaekje (“to shake”), Dutch schaken (“to elope, make clean, shake”), Low German schaken (“to move, shift, push, shake”) and schacken (“to shake, shock”), Old Norse skaka (“to shake”), Norwegian Nynorsk skaka (“to shake”), Swedish skaka (“to shake”), Danish skage (“to shake”), Dutch schokken (“to shake, shock”), Russian скака́ть (skakátʹ, “to jump”). More at shock.

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

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