Link Centre Dictionary

sake

UK/ˈseɪ̯k/ US/ˈseɪ̯k/ common

noun

1.

a reason for wanting something done

  • “for your sake”
  • “died for the sake of his country”
  • “in the interest of safety”
  • “in the common interest”
Synonyms
2.
3.

the purpose of achieving or obtaining

  • “for the sake of argument”

Origin

From Middle English sake (“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu (“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-West Germanic *saku, from Proto-Germanic *sakō (“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to investigate”). Akin to West Frisian saak (“cause; business”), Low German Saak, Dutch zaak (“matter; cause; business”), German Sache (“thing; matter; cause; legal cause”), Danish sag, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sak, Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌾𐍉 (sakjō, “dispute, argument”), Old English sōcn (“inquiry, prosecution”), Old English sēcan (“to seek”). More at soke, soken, seek.

Phrases

  • art for art's sake
  • for any sake
  • for Christ's sake
  • for cripes sake
  • for cripes' sake
  • for fuck's sake
  • for fudge's sake
  • for Goddess's sake

Related words

Broader terms

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Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.