Etymology Explorer › EnglishWhere does “cheeky” come from? Cheeky derives from Middle English cheke with the suffix -y, from Middle French cheke with -ie, from Latin gena meaning "cheek" with the diminutive suffix -ia.
cheeky (English): Impudent; impertinent; impertinently bold, often...
Definitions Impudent; impertinent; impertinently bold, often... Ancestry of “cheeky”, step by step Step Language Word Meaning 1 English -y Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives... 2 Middle English -y Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... 3 Old English -iġ -y, -ic 4 Proto-West Germanic -g Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... 5 Proto-Germanic -gaz -y 6 Proto-Indo-European -ḱos -y, -ic
Words derived from “cheeky”