trek

Etymology

From Afrikaans trek, from Dutch trekken, from Middle Dutch trekken (weak verb) and trēken (“to trek, place, bring, move”, strong verb), from Old Dutch *trekkan, *trekan, from Proto-West Germanic *trekan, from Proto-Germanic *trekaną, *trakjaną (“to drag, haul, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”).

noun

1. (South Africa) A journey by ox wagon.
2. (South Africa) The Boer migration of 1835-1837.
3. A slow or difficult journey.
   We're planning a trek up Kilimanjaro.
   Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese. 1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine, page 327
4. A long walk.
   I would drive to the shops from here; you can walk, but it's quite a trek.

verb

1. (intransitive) To make a slow or arduous journey.
   Before that they had been a good deal on the move, trekking about after the white man, who was one of those rolling stones that keep going round after a soft job. 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá
2. (intransitive) To journey on foot, especially to hike through mountainous areas.
3. (South Africa) To travel by ox wagon.
4. (Nigeria) To travel by walking.