Unknown. Perhaps fromskag(“unattractive woman”), but the origins ofskag are unknown.[1] Comparescold(“troublesome woman”),skeevy(“disgusting”). Attested from the 1960s.[2]
skank (countable anduncountable,pluralskanks)
- (derogatory, slang) Alewd anddisreputable person, oftenfemale, especially anunattractive person with an air oftawdrypromiscuity.
1965 March, “Youths compile slang book to develop literacy”, inEbony[1], page98:Whenever a slang word is heard, the youngsters note it, then write sentences which include the word.[…]Hawk: to watch – as in “Man, thatskank steady hawks me in school.”
2006, Noire[pseudonym],Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.:One World,Ballantine Books,→ISBN,page261:I'd been used to a lot of jawns following me around from when I first got out there on the rap scene. They were usually chickenheadskanks attracted to the gangsta culture who would lick and suck and fuck any and everything you wanted them to. Four and five times, if you told them to.
2017 March 30, Hayley Minn, “Josie Gibson reveals she's found 'The One' a week after splitting from 'skank' ex as she talks new dating show”, inDaily Mirror[2]:Speaking exclusively to Mirror TV, Josie revealed: "I've just split up from somebody because he was askank and was selling stories to the press, and he was a loser."
- Anything that is particularlyfoul,unhygienic orunpleasant.
1995,Harmony Korine,Kids, spoken by Telly:Virgins. I love 'em. No diseases, no loose as a goose pussy, noskank. No nothin'. Just pure pleasure.
2011, James Ellroy,American Tabloid, page21:Hughes CRAVED dirt. Hughes CRAVED slanderskank to share with Mr. Hoover. What Hughes CRAVED, Hughes BOUGHT. ¶ Pete bought an issue’s worth of dirt. His cop contacts supplied him with a one-week load of lacklusterskank.
unattractive female with an air of promiscuity
skank (comparativemoreskank,superlativemostskank)
- (derogatory, slang)Lewd,vulgar,skanky.
1997 June–July, Michael A. Gonzales, “Toni's secret: Miss Braxton lets it all hang out”, inVibe[3], volume 5, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Time Publishing Ventures; Intermedia Vibe Holdings,→ISSN, page92:"I wear provocative clothes because they make me feel sexy," Toni says without apology. "If an artist like Madonna is wearing her booty hanging out, she's considered a genius. But if a black person does it, we're consideredskank whores or sluts."
2001, Angela Nissel,The Broke Diaries,→ISBN, page49:You can even be a wee bit moreskank and don a dirty shirt. Unwashed underwear, however, is a no-go.
Originally Jamaican, attested from the twentieth century, but earliest source is uncertain. The verb sensebe dishonest is evidently older. Perhaps originallyonomatopoeic. The dance senses may come from a resemblance to motorcyclists weaving between larger vehicles.[3] Compareskanker.
skank (pluralskanks)
- Adance performed toska,dub, orreggae music.
1989, “Reggae: The revolution continues”, inLink, volume32, number 1, page35:[…]the ability to double up with contagious laughter; the feeling of pure child-like glee; and the mesmerizing, trance-likeskank dancing that looks like African aerobics after centuries of rhythm.
1999, Kwame Dawes,Natural Mysticism: Towards a New Reggae Aesthetic in Caribbean Writing, page110:All reggae dance represents a dialogue with that basic movement which is theskank — a kind of offbeat walking on the spot
- (music) A style ofrhythmicguitar strumming in ska, reggae, andpunk.
A typicalskank guitar rhythm:
2017, Jas Obrecht, “Ben Harper in San Francisco, May 3, 1994”, inTalking Guitar, page279:He took it another step and brought blues into reggae music. I don’t playskank. I don’t play reggae guitar. So I had to call.
skank (third-person singular simple presentskanks,present participleskanking,simple past and past participleskanked)
- Todance the skank.
1998, Billy Bergman,Hot Sauces: Latin and Caribbean Pop,1985, quoted inCraig Lockard,Dance of Life: Popular Music and Politics in Southeast Asia, page51:Four-thousand miles away, there is a reggae night spot called Club 69, where local youth wear dreadlocks... and dance ska, rocksteady, andskank to the beats of the Wailers.... Club 69 is in Tokyo, the dread youths are Japanese.
- To playguitar with a skank rhythm.
1999, Tobias Hurwitz,Punk Guitar Styles, page24:Joe Strummer and Mick Jones did a lot ofskanking.Skanking refers to a style of playing using scratch (page 17) rhythms with a strong accent on the off-beats (1& 2& 3& 4&) rather than the on-beats.
- (transitive or intransitive, Jamaica) To bedishonest orunreliable, todefraud ordeceive, tosteal.
2011, Colin Grant,I & I: The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh and Wailer, page210:Only Tosh, Marley and Livingston had been signed, and Aston Barrett harboured an unarticulated resentment that later would be couched in the language of betrayal[…] In any event ‘Family Man’ believed that they had an oral agreement, and placed his faith in Marley (from whom they received their wages) that he would notskank them.
Slang word used in Northern England. Unknown. Perhaps from etymology 2, above; attested in West Indian and UK black slang from the twentieth century.[4]
skank (pluralskanks)
- The act ofcheating a person.
That's not a good deal; it's askank.
2006, Sylvester Young,More than a Game: A Story about Football and Other Stuff,→ISBN, page73:As for the identities of those behind the plan, the mere mention of ‘some millionaire’ reinforced the conviction of those who were ready to part with their money that they were onto a winner. While for others, the mere mention of the names Nestor Riley and Desmond Palmer was enough to confirm that this whole business was askank which would end in tears.
skank (third-person singular simple presentskanks,present participleskanking,simple past and past participleskanked)
- (transitive) To cheat, especially a friend.
He short-changed a partner, leaving him feelingskanked.
2000,Lanre Fehintola,Charlie Says - Don't Get High on your Own Supply, page101:He thought I was trying toskank him and wouldn’t wait any more; he wanted to be there.He wouldn’t wait!
- ^Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “skank”, inOnline Etymology Dictionary, retrieved17 September 2018.
- ^“skank,n.”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000. - ^“skank (scank)vb” in Richard Allsopp,Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (1996).
- ^Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor (2015),The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, page2025.
FromOld Norseskankr. Akin toEnglishshank.
skank c (singular definiteskanken,plural indefiniteskanker)
- (anatomy)shank(especially in animals)
- (anatomy)(humorous)leg(in humans and in animals)
FromOld Norseskankr. Akin toEnglishshank.
skank f (definite singularskanka,indefinite pluralskjenker,definite pluralskjenkene)
skank m (definite singularskanken,indefinite pluralskankar,definite pluralskankane)
- (anatomy)thigh,thighbone(especially in animals)
- (anatomy)shank(especially in animals)
- (anatomy)hindlimb,foot
- meat from such a part of the body
- big-bonedshe-creature, especially an animal with bigthighs andhips
- The masculine inflection is not used for the fifth sense. But for the fourth sense, things are different. A masculine inflection, not always, but sometimes is an inflection for feminine qualities, at times. The inflection process begins with a source moment that starts things off.
Cognate with Danishskank, Englishshank, used as a noun in Swedish since 1635. The noun is based on an older adjective (now obsolete)skank, skink (limping, lame on one leg).
skank c
- aleg (human or animal)
- rör påskankarna!
- move your legs! (walk on, keep moving)
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.