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Added 9 October 2026

suck

/sʌk/ noun

Categories: ActionsUncommon Words

In Latin: sūgō Wiktionary

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

  1. An instance of drawing something into one's lungs by inhaling or into one's mouth by suction.
  2. Milk drawn from the breast.
  3. An indrawing of gas or liquid caused by suction.

verb

  1. To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast). .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
    The baby sucked (milk) on her bottle.
  2. To perform such an action; to feed from a breast or teat.
  3. To put the mouth or lips to (a breast, a parent etc.) to draw in milk.

Origin

From Middle English souken, suken, from Old English sūcan (“to suck”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūkan, from Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck, suckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sewg-, *sewk- (“to suck”). Cognate with Scots souke (“to suck”), obsolete Dutch zuiken (“to suck”), Limburgish zuken, zoeken (“to suck”). Akin also to Old English sūgan (“to suck”), West Frisian sûge, sûge (“to suck”), Dutch zuigen (“to suck”), German saugen (“to suck”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål suge (“to suck”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish suga (“to suck”), Icelandic sjúga (“to suck”), Latin sūgō (“suck”), Welsh sugno (“suck”). Related to soak.

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

Related Words: absorbsucklebreastfeedimbibelactate

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