Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

punk

 
Dictionary: punk1   (pŭngk) pronunciation
n.
  1. Slang.
    1. A young person, especially a member of a rebellious counterculture group.
    2. An inexperienced young man.
  2. Music.
    1. Punk rock.
    2. A punk rocker.
    1. Slang. A young man who is the sexual partner of an older man.
    2. Archaic. A prostitute.

[Origin unknown.]

punker punk'er n.

punk2 (pŭngk) pronunciation
n.
  1. Dry decayed wood, used as tinder.
  2. Any of various substances that smolder when ignited, used to light fireworks.
  3. Chinese incense.
adj. Slang
  1. Of poor quality; worthless.
  2. Weak in spirits or health.

[Probably of eastern Algonquian origin.]


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Thesaurus: punk
Top

noun

    A rough, violent person who engages in destructive actions: hoodlum, mug, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, tough. Informal toughie. Slang hood. See attack/defend, crimes.

Word Origin: punk
Top

Origin: 1618

Something like punk has been smoldering in American English for hundreds of years, undergoing drastic changes of meaning from century to century. It began as a bizarre kind of overcooked corn, explained in a 1618 account of certain Indians in Virginia: "Some of them, more thriftye then cleanly, doe burne the coare of the eare to powder, which they call pungnough, mingling that in their meale, but yt never tasted well in bread or broath." Around that time, also, punk was a word for "ashes" in the Delaware Indian language.

A couple of centuries later, punk had become a word for the slow-burning sticks used in kindling fireworks. By 1889 it was a slang term for a cigarette, and by the end of the century punk had a sense "worthless" as in a story by George Ade: "And this crowd up there was purty-y-y punk."

Today's first meaning of punk, a small-time hoodlum, developed in the period between the World Wars. And in the late 1970s punk came to designate bizarre clothing and body decorations associated with loud and aggressive rock music. To the general public, it still has an unpleasant taste.



Wikipedia: Punk
Top

Punk may refer to:

Punk may also refer to:

  • Punk'd, a hidden-camera MTV series in which punking refers to executing a prank
  • CM Punk, professional wrestler
  • Donny the Punk, United States prison reform activist
  • David Otunga, "Punk" from the reality TV show I Love New York 2, fiancé of Jennifer Hudson

–punk as a suffix can also be used to describe cyberpunk derivatives, several different literary genres whose names derive from the "cyberpunk" genre


Translations: Punk
Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - nybegynder, laban, sludder
adj. - skidt tilpas

Nederlands (Dutch)
punker, nozem, dor hout, verrot, slecht

Français (French)
n. - punk, (US) voyou (péj), blanc-bec
adj. - punk

Deutsch (German)
n. - Punker, Punkrock
adj. - Punk-

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αληταράς, νεαρός αλήτης, βλακείες, ανοησίες, πανκ
adj. - τιποτένιος, του κινήματος πανκ

Italiano (Italian)
punk, punk rock

Português (Portuguese)
n., -
adj. - punk

Русский (Russian)
подонок, панк, никудышный, вздор, тип музыки рок

Español (Spanish)
n. - malo, mocoso, pobre hombre, movimiento o ideología
adj. - del movimiento punk

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - skurk, glop, gröngöling, punk, en skit
adj. - punk-, urusel, vissen, dassig

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
生手, 笨蛋, 年轻无赖汉, 男同性恋者, 无用的, 不健康的, 下等的, "庞克"的

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 生手, 笨蛋, 年輕無賴漢, 男同性戀者
adj. - 無用的, 不健康的, 下等的, "龐克"的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 풋내기, 애송이
adj. - 빈약한, 보잘 것 없는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 不良, ちんぴら, 朽ち木
adj. - 低俗な, パンク調の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مشاكس, مراهق انكليزي مزعج (صفه) عديم القيمه, ما يخص ملبس و تصرفات بعض الشباب الانكليزي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נער עבריין, פושע, הבלים, עץ רקוב (להצתה), הומוסקסואל סביל (ארה"ב), צעיר חסר-ניסיון (ארה"ב), פנקיסט‬
adj. - ‮חדל-אישים, רקוב, מזופת, חסר-ערך, סוג של מוסיקת רוק עם אפקטים גסים ותוקפניים‬


Shopping: punk
Top
 
 
Learn More
punk rocker
Tater Totz (Rock Band, '80s, '90s)
UK Subs: Punk Can Take It (1979 Music Film)

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Origin. America in So Many Words, by David K.Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Punk" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

 

Mentioned in