What does weeke mean?
Weeke is a historical English spelling with two possible functions. As an adjective, it means “weak,” describing something deficient in strength, power, or effectiveness; as a noun, it means “week,” a period of seven days. The spelling appears in Middle and Early Modern English, before modern spelling conventions became established. Because both “weeke” and “weak” are pronounced /wiːk/, the word’s grammatical role is essential to understanding which meaning was intended. A passage describing an inadequate defence, for example, uses the adjective sense, while one referring to a seven-day interval uses the noun sense. The form is occasionally encountered in older books, legal records, poetry, and quotations from Early Modern English. In contemporary writing, however, “weak” and “week” are the standard forms. Weeke is chiefly interesting as evidence of historical spelling variation rather than as a separate modern word, and its two apparent meanings make it especially memorable.
An archaic spelling of “weak,” meaning lacking strength, power, or effectiveness.
"Their weeke defence offered little protection."
This spelling is obsolete and normally appears only in older texts.
An archaic spelling of “week,” meaning a period of seven days.
"The journey will take the better part of a weeke."
This spelling is obsolete and normally appears only in older texts.
This is the plural associated with the archaic spelling; the modern form is “weeks.”
"Several weekes passed before the letter arrived."
One old spelling, two possible words: weeke could mean weak—or a whole week.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of weeke
The adjective use of weeke is a historical spelling of weak, which descends from Old English wac, meaning “weak,” and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wēkaz. The noun use continues week, inherited from Old English wicu and Proto-Germanic *wikǭ; related forms occur in Old Norse vika and Dutch week. The double spelling of weeke reflects Middle and Early Modern English orthographic variation rather than the creation of an independent word.
How weeke is actually used
Weeke is not part of standard present-day British or American English. It is chiefly encountered in older literature, where modern editors may normalize it to “weak” or “week” according to its grammatical function.
Easily confused with weeke
“Week” is the modern noun for a seven-day period, whereas “weeke” is an archaic spelling that may represent either “week” or the adjective “weak.”