# keep

> English word · Verb · IPA /kiːp/ · frequency rank #206

## Definitions
1. To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain.
2. To remain faithful to a given promise or word.
3. To hold the status of something.
4. To hold the status of something.
5. To hold the status of something.
6. To hold the status of something.
7. To hold the status of something.
8. To hold the status of something.
9. To hold the status of something.
10. To hold the status of something.
11. To hold the status of something.
12. To hold the status of something.
13. To hold the status of something.
14. To hold the status of something.
15. To hold or be held in a state.
16. To hold or be held in a state.
17. To hold or be held in a state.
18. To hold or be held in a state.
19. To hold or be held in a state.
20. To wait for, keep watch for.
21. To act as wicket-keeper.
22. To take care; to be solicitous; to watch.
23. To be in session; to take place.
24. To observe; to adhere to; to fulfill; to not swerve from or violate.
25. To visit (a place) often; to frequent.
26. To observe or celebrate (a holiday).
27. To put (something) back (to its original location or appropriate place); to put away.

## Etymology
From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (“to look, heed, watch, observe”) (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian забо́та (zabóta, “care, worry”)).
The dialectal sense of the verb meaning “to put back” or “put away” may be analyzed as a semantic loan from a local language—compare Welsh cadw and Mandarin 收 (shōu).

## Easily confused with
- **KP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kp)
- **key** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-key)
- **ken** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-ken)
- **Kev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kev)
- **kei** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kei)
- **keg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-keg)
- **kew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kew)
- **kip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kip)
- **ker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-ker)
- **Kop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kop)
- **knew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-knew)
- **kept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kept)
- **keys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-keys)
- **knee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-knee)
- **Kent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kent)
- **Kerr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kerr)
- **Kiev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kiev)
- **kemp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kemp)
- **kern** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-kern)
- **keto** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/keep-vs-keto)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ekep`, `keepp`, `kep`, `kepe`, `kkeep`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/keep