trek

(trĕk)
intr.v., trekked, trek·king, treks.

1. To make a slow or arduous journey.
2. To journey on foot, especially to hike through mountainous areas.
3. South African. To travel by ox wagon.

n.

1. A journey or leg of a journey, especially when slow or difficult.
2. South African. A journey by ox wagon, especially a migration such as that of the Boers from 1835 to 1837.

[Afrikaans, to travel by ox wagon, from Dutch trekken, to travel, from Middle Dutch trecken, to pull.]

trekker trek'ker n.

WORD HISTORY   Though now most familiar to English-speakers and others in the title of the Star Trek television shows and movies, the word trek originally referred to a journey by a much slower mode of transportation than a starship. Trek was borrowed into English in South Africa, where the word was used by the Boers for a journey by ox wagon. A seminal event in the history of South Africa was the "Groot Trek" from 1835-1843, in which more than 10,000 Boers, the Voortrekkers, left the Cape Colony and traveled north and northeast because of economic problems, conflict with the Xhosa, and discontent with British colonial authorities, who had forbidden the slave trade and postulated the equality of whites and non-whites. The British, who seized control of South Africa from the Boers at the turn of the 20th century, seized the word trek during the 19th. Trek is recorded earliest in 1822 in the compound trektow, "a rope joining the wagon pole and the yoke to which oxen were fastened." Trek in this compound is either the noun or the stem of the corresponding verb in Afrikaans, trekken. The earliest recorded use of the noun by itself is found in 1849, where it means "a stage in a journey by ox wagon."

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The verb has inflected forms trekked, trekking. The word implies a strong element of difficulty or arduousness, and as a synonym of go is used in hyperbole or for jocular effect.

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verb

1. To make or go on a journey: journey, pass, peregrinate, travel, trip. Idioms: hit the road. See move/halt.
2. To travel about or journey on foot: backpack, hike, march¹, peregrinate, traipse, tramp. See move/halt.

noun

A journey undertaken with a specific objective: expedition, pilgrimage, safari, tour, voyage. See move/halt.

n, v

Definition: journey
Antonyms: stay

from Afrikaans
This word originated in South Africa

English speakers had to go to South Africa to learn about trekking. They did this early in the nineteenth century, much to the annoyance of the people who taught them the word. These were descendants of the Dutch who had settled in South Africa as early as 1652; they had been there so long that their variety of Dutch went by the name Afrikaans. To these white Afrikaners, a trek was a day's journey by ox wagon. As Afrikaners had intruded on native black Africans, so the British began intruding on the Dutch-descended Afrikaners, claiming the land for their own. Finally, tired of British bullying, in 1835 the Afrikaners hitched up their oxen and journeyed far inland to establish independent communities. They left behind the name for this migration, the "Great Trek." With that, English speakers took possession of the word trek as well.

Recalling the Afrikaners' Great Trek, trek in English means not just a journey but a long and challenging one. So when an expedition attempts Mount Everest, it's a trek. And so in the last half of the twentieth century, when Gene Roddenberry sought a name for a television series about long journeys over astronomical distances, he decided on Star Trek. Devotees of that program are known as Trekkies, except in South Africa, where they are called Trekkers, the Afrikaans word for those who trek.

Today Afrikaans is spoken by about six million of the forty million inhabitants of South Africa. It is an Indo-European and West Germanic language, like English, by virtue of being descended from Dutch. In recent years, Afrikaans has lost favor because it was the language of the extreme racist apartheid (1947) policy. English has adopted about forty words from Afrikaans, including commando (1884) and wildlife terms like springbok (1775), spoor (1823), aardvark (1827), and veldt (1835).

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For a list of words related to trek, see:

• Travel and Tourism - trek: slow, laborious travel, often by foot over long distance
• Mood and Intent - trek: make slow, difficult progress over long route

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See words rhyming with "trekker."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Trek.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - langsom rejse, udvandring, dagsrejse
v. intr. - rejse langsomt og besværligt, drage til fods, slæbe sig

Nederlands (Dutch)
trekken, trektocht

Français (French)
n. - randonnée, randonnée pénible, trotte (fam), (Hist) migration des Boers
v. intr. - cheminer (à travers), traverser péniblement, faire le trajet jusqu'à

Deutsch (German)
n. - (schwierige) Reise, Treck
v. - ziehen, trecken, mühsam vorankommen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μακρύ κοπιαστικό ταξίδι, οδοιπορικό, ομαδική μετοίκηση ή μετανάστευση, περιπλάνηση
v. - αργοταξιδεύω, μετοικώ, μεταναστεύω

Italiano (Italian)
escursione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - viagem (f), jornada (f)
v. - migrar, viajar

Русский (Russian)
путешествие, поход

Español (Spanish)
n. - caminata, viaje largo y difícil, expedición
v. intr. - viajar, emigrar en carromatos

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - lång och mödosam resa, vandring
v. - åka, resa, vandra, färdas, tillryggalägga

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
集体移居, 旅行, 艰苦跋涉, 移居, 缓慢地行进, 离开

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 集體移居, 旅行
v. intr. - 艱苦跋涉, 移居, 緩慢地行進, 離開

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 달구지 여행, 이주자의 대이동, 고난에 찬 여행
v. intr. - 짐수레를 끌다, 느릿느릿 여행하다, 물러나다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 車を引く, のろのろと旅をする, 行く, 引く, 牛車で旅する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) رحله بعربه ثيران وبخاصه هجرة جماعيه (فعل) يسير أو يسافر ببطء أو بصعوبه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מסע קשה או חלק ממנו, הגירה מאורגנת של קבוצה‬
v. intr. - ‮התקדם במאמץ‬

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