Old English · verb

secan

Normalised sēċan

Part of speech: verb
Verb class: weak class 1
IPA: /ˈseː.t͡ʃɑn/
Syllables: ˈseː · t͡ʃɑn (2 syllables)
Modern English: seek seech organized

Meaning

to look for, seek

Hwæt sēcst þū?

What are you looking for?
to visit
to attack (especially by an organized group or a military force)

Conjugation

Conjugation of secan
Indicative
	Present	Past
1st singular	sēċe	sōhte
2nd singular	sēċest sēcst	sōhtest
3rd singular	sēċeþ sēcþ	sōhte
Plural	sēċaþ	sōhton
Subjunctive
Singular	sēċe	sōhte
Plural	sēċen	sōhten

Non-finite forms of secan
	Form
Infinitive	sēċan
Inflected infinitive	sēċenne
Imperative singular	sēċ
Imperative plural	sēċaþ
Present participle	sēċende
Past participle	sōht ġesōht

All forms (17)

sēċe
sōhte
sēċest
sēcst
sōhtest
sēċeþ
sēcþ
sēċaþ
sōhton
sēċen
sōhten
sēċan
sēċenne
sēċ
sēċende
sōht
ġesōht

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“track down, seek out”). Cognate with Old Frisian sēka (West Frisian sykje), Old Saxon sōkian (Low German sooken), Dutch zoeken, Old High German suohhen (German suchen), Old Norse sǿkja (Swedish söka), Gothic (sōkjan); and with Latin sagiō (“sense by smell”), Albanian shikoj (“to see, observe, look for”), Old Irish saigid (“seek”).

Descendants

seech, seek

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/secan · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution