nark
/nɑːɹk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.65 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An unpleasant person, especially one who makes things difficult for others.
Australian usage; Slang
Example Sentences
- "So I went and laid down on the grass. While laying there I piped a reeler whom I knew. He had a nark (a policeman's spy) with him. So I went and looked about for my two pals, and told them to look out for F. and his nark."
- "the bystander. […] She thought you was a copper's nark, sir. / the note taker [with quick interest] Whats a copper's nark? / the bystander [inapt at definition] It's a—well, it's a copper's nark, as you might say. What else would you call it? A sort of informer."
- "When we got to the Chief of Police's office a crowd of the most dreadful-looking scoundrels, obviously police narks, informers, and spies of every kind, were hanging about outside the door."
- "“If you nark on me, I’ll rip your arms off,” said Tim to his brother, as he passed him a joint."
- "I don’t trust that guy; he’s gonna nark us out."
- "It really narks me when people smoke in restaurants."
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps from Angloromani nok (“nose”), from Romani nakh, from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀡𑀓𑁆𑀓 (ṇakka), ultimately a doublet of nose.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /nɑːɹk/
- British English: /nɑːk/