“creeks” is a form of
creek
/ˈkɹiːk/ noun, proper noun, adjective
Forms creeks crick crike cryke crik
- noun (UK) A small inlet, often saltwater, leading to the sea or to the main channel of a river, especially a river estuary.
- noun (UK) The inner part of a port that is used as a dock for small boats.
- noun (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US) A stream of water, typically a stream of freshwater smaller than a river; in Australia, also used of river-sized bodies of water.
- noun Any turn or winding.
- noun One of a Native American tribe from the Southeastern United States, also known as the Muscogee.
- proper noun The Muskogean language of the Creek tribe.
- proper noun A surname.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Creek tribe. “The chieftain was well versed in Creek history.”
- proper noun (fandom slang) The ship of characters Craig Tucker and Tweek Tweak from the South Park series.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English crike, probably from Old Norse kriki, from Proto-Germanic *krikjô, variant of krekô, from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, to wind”); the modern form creek (already late Middle English creke) either reflects open-syllable lengthening of Middle English /i/ or reborrowing from Middle Dutch krēke., Compare typologically English bight, akin to bend, bow.
See also Old Dutch creka, crika (“inlet, cove, creek”), Medieval Latin creca, crica, kríkr (“angle, corner, nook, bay”), Old Norse kraki (“pole with a hook, anchor”), and possibly Old Norse krókr (“hook, bend, bight”). Modern cognates include West Frisian kreek (“creek”), Dutch kreek (“creek, cove, inlet, bight”), and French crique (“cove”) (borrowed from Germanic).
Early British colonists of Australia and the Americas used the term in the usual British way, to name inlets; as settlements followed the inlets upstream and inland, the names were retained and creek came to be used to refer to any small waterway. A similar semantic development occurred in Dutch and French, where the word originally meant "bay" but came to mean "stream" especially in the French and Dutch colonies (French Guiana, Dutch Guiana and Indonesia).
* As an English surname, from Creake in Norfolk, a variant of the noun crag (“steep rugged cliff”).
* Also as an English surname, from the archaic noun cratch (“crib, manger”).
* As a German surname, Americanized from Krieg (“war, warfare”), Krück, Kruck (see Krug (“jug”) and Krücke (“crutch”)), Krick.
* As a Dutch surname, Americanized from Kreek (from the noun kreek (“creek”), see creek) and Kriek (from kriek (“cherry”)).
* The Native American tribe name is likely shortened from Ocheese Creek (the Hitchiti name for the body of water known today as the Ocmulgee River).
Blend of Craig + Tweek (an alteration of tweak).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small inlet or bay, narrower and extending further into the land than a cove; a recess in the shore of the sea, or of a river.
- noun A stream of water smaller than a river and larger than a brook.
Etymology [AS. crecca; akin to D. kreek, Icel. kriki crack, nook; cf. W. crig crack, crigyll ravine, creek. Cf. Crick, Crook.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “creek”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details