‖kyk, verb intransitive
/keɪk/
- Forms:
- Formerly also kek, kijk.
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, South African DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch kijk, to look, peep, view.
1. ‘Look’; used to command attention.
- Note:
- Often used in reporting Afrikaans speech.
1900 B. Mitford Aletta 48‘Kyk! Do you know Mynheer Botma, then?’ asked the old Boer, in round-eyed astonishment.
2. In the idiomatic expression kyk hoe lyk hy (hulle, ons) nou/ˌkeɪk hu ˌleɪk heɪ (hələ//ɔns) ˈnəʊ/ [Afrikaans, literally ‘look how he (they, we) appear(s) now’], an expression with a range of meanings, as ‘just look (at him)’; ‘what else do you expect’, or ‘I told you so’; ‘that’s life’.
1982 Drum Jan. 2Kyk hoe lyk hulle nou! That is what we shout when some pigheaded oafs with wax-laden ears come a cropper.
1990 Weekly Mail 22 June (Suppl.) 7Oberholzer is unrestrained in subject choice: anything and everything, from spectacular landscapes to AWB stalwarts, are sucked into the emulsion and spat out in a powerful documentary of the times. Kyk hoe lyk ons nou!
‘Look’; used to command attention.
In the idiomatic expression kyk hoe lyk hy (hulle, ons) nou/ˌkeɪk hu ˌleɪk heɪ (hələ//ɔns) ˈnəʊ/ [Afrikaans, literally ‘look how he (they, we) appear(s) now’], an expression with a range of meanings, as ‘just look (at him)’; ‘what else do you expect’, or ‘I told you so’; ‘that’s life’.
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