punk
/ˈpʌŋk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.20 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife."
- "[…] And made them fight, like mad or drunk, / For Dame Religion, as for punk..."
- "Flip [Lady Flippant]. I love, of my life men ſhould deal freely vvith me; there are ſo fevv men vvill deal freely with one— / Sir Sim[on Addlepot]. Are you not a Fireſhip? a Punk, Madam? / Flip. VVell, Sir, I love Raillery. / Sir Sim. Faith and troth I do not railly, I deal freely."
- "However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie—did actually solicit me, did actually say 'coming home to-night, dearie' and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman."
- "The Beaus... At night make a Punk of him that's first drunk."
- "They'd pick up youngsters as, well—as their playthings. These kids were called punks."
Etymology
Uncertain. Possibly from punk (“rotten wood dust used as tinder”), attested since 1678, to anything worthless (attested since 1869) and then to any undesirable person (since 1908). The relatively tame 21st century usage of punk (“prank”, verb) was popularized by the American television show Punk'd (2003).
Usage
- Archaic
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Obsolete
- American usage
- Slang
- Derogatory
- Humorous