Woke
/woʊk/noun
Awake; alert, especially to social and political issues.
Did you know?The modern political sense of woke grew out of African American English, where stay woke was a real phrase meaning to stay alert to injustice, not a meme or a slogan.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*wegʰ-
“to be strong, be lively, be awake”
Old English
English
wacan
“to awaken, arise, come into being”
Old English
English
wacu
“a watch, vigil”
Middle English
English
woken
“awakened; become awake”
Modern English
English
woke
“awake; alert, especially socially or politically aware”