wreak

== English == === Pronunciation === (UK) enPR: rēk, IPA(key): /ɹiːk/ (US) IPA(key): /ɹik/ Rhymes: -iːk Homophone: reek === Etymology 1 === From Middle English wreken, from Old English wrecan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrekan, from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“push, shove, drive, track down”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Dutch wreken, German rächen, Swedish vräka; cognate via PIE with Latin urgēre (English urge), and distantly cognate with English wreck. ==== Verb ==== wreak (third-person singular simple present wreaks, present participle wreaking, simple past wreaked or (nonstandard) wrought or (obsolete) wroke, past participle wreaked or (nonstandard) wrought or (obsolete) wroke or (obsolete) wroken) (transitive) To cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm. (archaic) To chasten, or chastise/chastize, or castigate, or punish, or smite. (archaic) To inflict or take vengeance on. (archaic) To take vengeance for. (intransitive) Misspelling of reek. ===== Usage notes ===== The verb wreak is generally used in the form “wreak damage or harm of some sort”, 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. Sometimes confused with wrack and rack. It has become common to mistakenly use wrought, the original past tense and participle for work, as the past tense and past participle for wreak, as in wrought 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 of both wreak and wrought, and probably by analogy with seek. ===== Derived terms ===== wreak havoc ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From Middle English wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare Dutch wraak. ==== Noun ==== wreak (plural wreaks) (archaic, literary) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment. (archaic, literary) Punishment; retribution; payback. === References === === Anagrams === Waker, waker, wrake, kewra