skrike

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɹaɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English skriken, a borrowing from Old Norse skríkja (“to scream”) (compare Old English sċrīċ, sċrēċ > English shriek/screech), literally "bird with a shrill call," referring to a thrush, possibly imitative of its call. Attested from c 1573.

Verb

skrike (third-person singular simple present skrikes, present participle skriking, simple past and past participle skriked)

1. (British, regional) To cry, sob, cry out or yell; to scream.
   • 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

     The yells and yammering, croaking, jibbering and jabbering; howls, growls and curses; shrieking and skriking, that followed were beyond description.

   • 1973, Alan Garner, Red Shift:

     It's not as if you're skriking brats.

Etymology 2

From Middle English skrike, scryke (also skryche, schryke, shryke). Cognate with Old Frisian skrichte, Middle Low German schrichte.

Noun

skrike (plural skrikes)

1. (UK, regional) A cry or scream.
   • c 1573, attested by J. Raine

     at what tyme the said Herrison wyfe gave a skrike.

   • 1824, Allan's Tynside Songs, page 182:

     Aw gav a skrike.

2. (UK, dialect) The mistle thrush.

See also

• shrike

References

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press.
• A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, J. R. Clark Hall, 1984, University of Toronto Press.
• Journal of English and Germanic Philology: Volume 29, 1930, University of Illinois Press.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “scric”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Kikers, krieks, skriek

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Onomatopoeic (lydord)

Verb

skrike (imperative skrik, present tense skriker, passive skrikes, simple past skrek or skreik, past participle skreket, present participle skrikende)

1. to scream, shout, cry out
2. to caw (of a crow)

Related terms

• skrik (noun)

References

• “skrike” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²skrɪːçə/, /²skrɪːkə/

Verb

skrike

1. alternative form of skrika

Participle

skrike

1. past participle of skrika

Noun

skrike f (definite singular skrika, indefinite plural skriker, definite plural skrikene)

1. alternative form of skrikje (“jay”)

References

• “skrike” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “skrika”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016
• “skrike”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

Anagrams

• kreksi, sikker, skreik, skreki