Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /drɛk/
- Hyphenation: drek
- Rhymes: -ɛk
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch drec, from Old Dutch *threkk, form Proto-West Germanic *þraki, from Proto-Germanic *þrakjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terǵ-, *(s)terḱ-, *(s)treḱ- (“manure, dung; to sully, soil, decay”).
Compare English dreck, German Dreck (“dirt; filth”), Old Norse þrekkr, Swedish träck. Wider Indo-European cognates include Latin stercus (“dung, manure”).
Attested since 1285 in the sense "filth, excrement".