woke

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wəʊk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /woʊk/
• enPR: wōk

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊk

Etymology 1

Shortened from woken or woke(n) up, or dialectal use of woke (past participle of wake, see Etymology 2 below). The sense of being aware of social injustice dates to at least the 1930s.

Adjective

woke (not generally comparable, comparative more woke or woker, superlative most woke or wokest)

1. (dialect, African-American Vernacular or slang) Awake: conscious and not asleep.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:awake

2. (originally African-American Vernacular, slang) Alert, aware of what is going on, or well-informed, especially in racial and other social justice issues.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vigilant

   Antonym: unwoke

   Coordinate terms: (chiefly derogatory) politically correct, (British) right-on

   • 1942, J. Saunders Redding, Negro Digest, volume 01:

     Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we’ll stay woke up longer.

   • 1962 May 20, William Melvin Kelley, “If You’re Woke You Dig It”, in The New York Times‎, page 45:

     If You’re Woke You Dig It [title]

   • 1972, Barry Beckham, Garvey Lives!:

     I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr. Garvey done woke me up, I’m gon stay woke. And I’m gon help him wake up other black folk.

   • 2008, Erykah Badu (lyrics and music), “Master Teacher”, in New Amerykah Part One (4th World War):

     What if there was no niccas / Only master teachers? / I stay woke (dreams dreams)

   • 2014, Lynn Sweeting, WomanSpeak, A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, volume 7:

     […] stay woke[,] people of color, / let us occupy this dissent

4. (by extension, politics, slang, often derogatory) Holding progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.

   Synonyms: politically correct, right-on

   Antonyms: politically incorrect, unwoke

   • 2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times‎:

     But the cultural conflict between these two post-revolutionary styles — between frat guys and feminist bluestockings, Gamergaters and the diversity police, alt-right provocateurs and “woke” dudebros, the mouthbreathers who poured hate on the all-female “Ghostbusters” and the tastemakers who pretended it was good — is likely here to stay.

   • 2019 October 29, Emily S. Rueb, Derrick Bryson Taylor, quoting Barack Obama, “Obama on Call-Out Culture: ‘That’s Not Activism’”, in The New York Times‎:

     Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself, cause, "Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out." That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change.

   • 2019 December 6, Jamelle Bouie, “Why the ‘Wokest’ Candidates Are the Weakest”, in The New York Times‎:

     If this were actually true, you would expect real traction for the wokest candidates in the Democratic presidential race. But it’s been just the opposite. The woke candidates have been the weakest, electorally speaking, and the defining attribute of the Democratic primary has been a preoccupation with the voters that put Trump in the White House.

   • 2021 July 26, Lauren Sarner, “Kevin Smith on ‘Masters of the Universe’ and fan backlash”, in New York Post‎:

     [Kevin Smith is] also baffled by some of the accusations that he tried to make the franchise “woke” by focusing on Teela.

   • 2022 November 15, Fiona Harvey, quoting Zac Goldsmith, “‘Stupid’ to equate climate concerns with being woke, says Zac Goldsmith”, in The Guardian‎:

     Rightwing Tory MPs should stop portraying concerns over the climate and nature as “woke”, and understand that voters are deeply concerned about the crisis, the Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith has warned.

Usage notes

• Like politically correct and social justice warrior, woke started off as a positive word used by people to describe themselves and their behavior but, in some contexts, gained negative connotations over time. Some derogatory uses of woke refer to people who would self-identify as woke or to people whose actions are deemed to be overzealous, performative, or insincere. Futhermore, the widespread negative use of woke, including within mainstream politics, led to its sarcastic or ironic use to lament non-existent restrictions or to deride subjects that are objectionable for reasons unrelated to political correctness, most widely in the catchphrase "because of woke."

Derived terms

• dewokify
• get woke, go broke
• Hollywoke
• hyperwoke
• unwoke
• wokeass
• woke capitalism
• woke church
• wokedom
• wokefest
• wokefish
• woke-free
• wokeish
• wokeism
• woke-ism
• wokeist
• Wokeland
• wokelash
• wokeling
• woke mind virus
• woke mob
• woken
• wokeness
• woker
• wokerati
• wokery
• wokescold
• wokester
• woketard
• Woketopia
• woketopian
• wokewash
• wokewashing
• wokie
• wokify
• wokism
• wokist

 

Descendants

• → Dutch: woke
• → German: woke
• → Swedish: woke

Translations

alert of what is happening

Arabic: يَقِظ (yaqiẓ), نَبِه (nabih) Finnish: tiedostava (fi) French: au fait (fr) Georgian: ყურადღებიანი (q̇uradɣebiani), ფხიზელი (pxizeli) German: aufmerksam (de), wachsam (de) Hebrew: נֵעוֹר (he) m (ne'ór) Hungarian: éber (hu), jól értesült, felvilágosult (hu), tájékozott (hu) Maori: aroā, arowā Portuguese: ligado (pt) Serbo-Croatian: budan (sh) m, svjestan (sh) m, osviješten (sh) m Spanish: alerta (es) Swedish: upplyst (sv)

politically correct; stereotypically leftist

Danish: politisk korrekt Dutch: woke (nl) French: politiquement correct (fr) Georgian: ვოუქი (vouki) German: politisch korrekt Japanese: ポリコレ (ja) Portuguese: lacrador (pt) m, lacradora (pt) f Spanish: progre (es) Swedish: woke (sv), PK (sv)

Noun

woke (countable and uncountable, plural wokes)

1. (countable, slang, often derogatory) A person who is woke (holding progressive views or attitudes).
   • 2022 December 21, Judson Berger, “You Can’t Say That at Stanford”, in National Review‎:

     Not to beat a dead horse, but it would appear that the wokes are in an abusive relationship with the speech policemen, given that some of their favored terms are being abruptly disallowed (like trigger warning or “preferred” pronouns).

2. (uncountable, slang, derogatory) A progressive ideology, in particular with regards to social justice.
   • 2021 January 8, Emilio Casalicchio, “Britain’s culture war extends beyond Brexit”, in Politico‎:

     Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London, said the war on woke kicked off as a counter to the “silent revolution” of liberal and progressive attitudes during the economic boom of the decades up to 2008.

   • 2022, Ron DeSantis, speech at CPAC 2022:

     The woke is the new religion of the left.

   • 2023 February 18, Panda La Terriere, “Why Gen Z is turning against woke culture”, in The Spectator‎:

     Millennials, such as Styles (and the other Harry, HRH, for that matter), were able to popularise and profit from woke.

   • 2024 April 22, Kathleen Stock, “Turn of the woke tide will leave many stranded”, in The Times‎:

     For I’m afraid the demise of woke won’t be like the end of toothbrush moustaches, indie folk music or any other temporary behaviour supercharged by the whims of the young and the hip, then dropped without consequence.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

woke

1. simple past of wake
2. (now colloquial or dialectal) past participle of wake
   • 1860 January–June, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “Miss Prior is Kept at the Door”, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, →OCLC, page 56:

     […] have woke out of dreams, mayhap in which the beloved was smiling on you, whispering love-words-oh! how sweet and fondly remembered!

   • 1873, Jules Verne, “Four Thousand Leagues under the Pacific”, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 96:

     It has its tempers and its gentle moods. Yesterday it slept as we did, and now it has woke after a quiet night.

   • 2007 November 10, Joy Dettman, One Sunday‎, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, →ISBN, page 184:

     What time did you wake up, and what woke you so flamin' early on a Sunday morning? Something must have woke you. The alarm clock?

Further reading

• Woke on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “woke”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Sam Sanders (2018 December 30) “It's Time To Put 'Woke' To Sleep”, in Weekend Edition
• Elijah C. Watson (2017) “The Origin Of Woke: How Erykah Badu And Georgia Anne Muldrow Sparked The “Stay Woke” Era”, in okayplayer
• Woke: The Journey of a Word from BBC Radio.
• “Because of Woke”, in Know Your Meme, launched 2007

Anagrams

• Ewok

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English woke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋoːk/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

woke (comparative woker, superlative meest woke or wokest)

1. (informal, often derogatory) woke; holding left-wing views or attitudes, (especially) with regards to social justice issues to an excessive degree.

   Coordinate term: politiek correct

   Ondanks al zijn woke gepraat heeft de student nog steeds geen vriendin. ― In spite of all his woke talk, the student still does not have a girlfriend.

Usage notes

• As in English, the term is sometimes used positively by people who self-identify with the label.

Derived terms

• wokisme
• wokist

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English woke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wok/
• Rhymes: -ok

Adjective

woke (plural wokes)

1. (politics, derogatory) woke; holding left-wing views or attitudes, (especially) with regards to social justice issues to an excessive degree.

Usage notes

• Unlike the English term, this is not used positively or by the people that the label targets.

Derived terms

• wokisme

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English woke.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔʊ̯k/, /β̞ɔʊ̯k/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

woke (strong nominative masculine singular woker, not comparable)

1. (neologism, informal) woke (well-informed, especially in social justice issues) [from mid-2010s]
   • 2021 December 11, Barbara Junge, “Scholz eröffnet nächsten Wahlkampf: Die Kalküle des Kanzlers”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎, →ISSN:

     Von der Formulierung, „Sozialdemokratinnen und Sozialdemokraten sind nicht bei denen, die sich für was Besseres halten“, ist der Weg nicht weit zu einer Erzählung von der elitären neuen Mittelklasse, die sich auf Kosten der arbeitenden Bevölkerung bereichert und den Mainstream diktiert, einen woken, natürlich.

     From that formulation that “social democrats are not with those who think oneself something better” the way is not far to a story of a new elitarian middle class that enriches itself at the costs of the working population and dictates the mainstream, a woke one of course.

   • 2022 February 23, Ian Miles Cheong, “Die Berufung einer Dragqueen ins Energieministerium ist ein weiterer Akt im Niedergang der USA”, in RT Deutsch‎:

     Die Ernennung von Brinton ist ein Beispiel für die woken Initiativen der Biden-Regierung in Richtung "Vielfalt, Gerechtigkeit und Inklusion", zu denen auch die Ernennung von Dr. Rachel Levine gehörte, einer Transgender-Gesundheitsbeamtin im Ministerium für Gesundheit und Soziale Dienste. Es sollte nicht überraschen, dass die Biden-Administration Menschen, die woke Hysterie und eine lockere Moral pflegen, erlaubt, in hochrangige Regierungspositionen aufzusteigen, da sogar Vizepräsidentin Kamala Harris sich den Ritualen rund um die Pronomen angeschlossen hat.

     Brinton’s hire is an example of the Biden administration’s woke initiatives towards “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI),” which also included the appointment of Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender health official to the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine was sworn in as the country’s first four-star admiral.
     It shouldn’t be surprising that the Biden administration allows people suffering from woke hysteria and loose morals to rise to high-ranking government positions, as even Vice President Kamala Harris has joined in with her embrace of pronoun rituals.

Declension

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist woke	sie ist woke	es ist woke	sie sind woke
strong declension (without article)	nominative	woker	woke	wokes	woke
	genitive	woken	woker	woken	woker
	dative	wokem	woker	wokem	woken
	accusative	woken	woke	wokes	woke
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der woke	die woke	das woke	die woken
	genitive	des woken	der woken	des woken	der woken
	dative	dem woken	der woken	dem woken	den woken
	accusative	den woken	die woke	das woke	die woken
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein woker	eine woke	ein wokes	(keine) woken
	genitive	eines woken	einer woken	eines woken	(keiner) woken
	dative	einem woken	einer woken	einem woken	(keinen) woken
	accusative	einen woken	eine woke	ein wokes	(keine) woken

Positive forms of woke (uncomparable)

Further reading

• “woke” in Duden online
• “woke” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “woke”, in Online-Wortschatz-Informationssystem Deutsch (in German), Mannheim: Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, 2008–

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

woke

1. Alternative form of weke (“week”)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English wāc, from Proto-West Germanic *waikw, from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz. Doublet of weyk.

Alternative forms

• wac, woc, wake, wok, wooc, woake

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔːk/
• (Northern, Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /wɑːk/

Adjective

woke (plural and weak singular woke, comparative wakker, superlative wakkest)

1. Physically weak or feeble; lacking strength or energy:
   1. Weak or feeble due to illness, affliction or aging.
   2. Lacking competency in combat or on the battlefield.
   3. Helpless; lacking power, authority, or control.
   4. (rare) Fruitless, barren (agriculturally unusable).
2. Weak-minded; lacking mental force, power or endurance:
   1. Religiously weak; vulnerable to sin or moral turpitude.
   2. (rare) Fearful, afraid; lacking bravery or courage.
   3. (rare) Unintelligent; lacking intelligence or mental willpower.
   4. (rare) Indecisive (unable to commit or take action).
   5. (rare) Morally suspect or corrupt; selfish.
3. Unimportant, valueless (of little value or import).
4. (rare) Bendable; able to be plied or flexed.

Derived terms

• woclic
• wocnesse
• woken

Descendants

• Scots: wak, wake, waik (conflated with weyk)

References

• “wōk, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-28.

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English woke.

Adjective

woke (comparative mer woke, superlative mest woke)

1. (colloquial, often derogatory or ironic) woke ((excessively) socially progressive)

Usage notes

Uninflected.

See also

• PK