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Added 8 October 2026

keep

/kiːp/ noun

In Latin: reservare, retinere, teneo Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about keep at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The financial means whereby one lives.
each child was expected to pay for their keep
The main tower within the walls of a medieval castle or fortress.
A cell in a jail or prison.

verb

Cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., `keep clean'.
hold in place
Continue a certain state, condition, or activity.
Keep on working!
Retain possession of.
Can I keep my old stuffed animals?

Origin

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (“to look, heed, watch, observe”) (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian забо́та (zabóta, “care, worry”)). The dialectal sense of the verb meaning “to put back” or “put away” may be analyzed as a semantic loan from a local language—compare Welsh cadw and Mandarin 收 (shōu).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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