Peekskill

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A city located in southeastern New York State on the east bank of the Hudson River, north of New York City
2. A town in the state of New York situated on the Hudson River in the Hudson Valley region
3. A small city in the Hudson Valley of New York State, lying along the eastern shore of the Hudson River

Etymology: Peekskill is a town on the Hudson River in New York State, and its name records a Dutch settler who once lived beside a creek there. The Dutch called the stream "Peeckskil," built from the name Jan Peeck, with an "-s-" linking the personal name to "kil," the Dutch word for "creek." The English word "kill" in place names such as Catskill and Newtown Kill comes from the same Dutch element, so the name is a kind of compound of a man's name and a waterway. The "Peeck" in the name belongs to Jan Peeck, a figure whose own identity the source does not describe further, so the story rests on the naming pattern rather than on biography. What remains clear is the structure: the creek took its name from a person, and the settlement that grew up around it carried that name into English.