funk

• enPR: fŭngk
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /fʌŋk/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /fɐŋk/, /faŋk/
• (India) IPA^(key): /fəŋk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk
• Hyphenation: funk

1620, from French dialectal (Norman) funquer, funquier (“to smoke, reek”), from Old Northern French fungier (“to smoke”), from Vulgar Latin fūmicāre, alteration of Latin fūmigāre (“to smoke, fumigate”). Related to French dialect funkière (“smoke”). More at fumigate.

funk (countable and uncountable, plural funks)

1. (countable) Foul or unpleasant smell, especially body odor.
   • 1982, “Thriller”, in Rod Temperton (lyrics), Quincy Jones (music), Thriller, performed by Michael Jackson (featuring Vincent Price), Epic Records:

     The foulest stench is in the air; the funk of 40,000 years and grizzly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.

2. (uncountable, music) A style of music derived from 1960s soul music, with elements of rock and other styles, characterized by a prominent bass guitar, dance-friendly sound, a strong emphasis on the downbeat, and much syncopation.

funk (third-person singular simple present funks, present participle funking, simple past and past participle funked)

1. (intransitive) To emit an offensive smell; to stink.
2. (transitive) To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke.
   • c. 1709, William King, The Furmentary:

     He funks Basketia and her son to death

   • 2012, M. C. Beaton, Diana the Huntress:

     Funking a cobbler – that is, blowing smoke into his stall; smoking cigars at divans and club houses; […]

3. (intransitive) To perform funk music.
   • 1989 December 17, Christopher Wittke, “On The Edge In The '80s”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 9:

     From the earliest part of this decade when he funked in relative obscurity to his days as a superstar with the release of his Batman soundtrack last summer, I could almost always count on Prince.

4. (euphemistic, slang) Fuck (the taboo swear word)

   Funk this!

   • 2017, Bootsy Collins, “Snow Bunny”, in World Wide Funk:

     Snow bunny, I pledge to funk you baby / You sexy lady, my only temptation […] Oh, I just want to funk you

   • 2023 November 25, Matt Wake, “Five meals under $10 that I love from local Huntsville restaurants (and you will, too!)”, in The Huntsville Times, Huntsville, Ala., →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Look, glittery tacos have their place. A date, business lunch, night out with besties, etc. But otherwise, paying almost 20 bucks for pizzazz between a few tortillas in Huntsville, funk that.

• eff, f-bomb;

• funk up
• funk you

From Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funca (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”). Cognate with Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”). See also spunk.

• vaunk

funk (plural funks)

1. (obsolete) Touchwood, punk, tinder.

• spunk (possibly)

1743, Scottish and Northern English dialectal word, originally a verb meaning "to panic, fail due to panic". Perhaps from or cognate with obsolete Dutch fonck (“distress, agitation”), from Middle Dutch fonck (“perturbation, agitation”). More at flunk.

funk (countable and uncountable, plural funks)

1. (countable) Mental depression.

   I've been in a funk lately, I fell into a funk, I slipped into a funk, I was stuck in a funk

   it helped me get out of a funk

2. (uncountable) A state of fear or panic, especially cowardly.
   • 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:

     [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 4:

     —A woful lunatic, Mulligan said. Were you in a funk?

   • 1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway‎^[1], London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC:

     Holmes was coming upstairs. Holmes would burst open the door. Holmes would say, “In a funk, eh?” Holmes would get him.

   • 1944 (written, first published in 2015), Bob Cooney, Proud Journey

     As I left the platform, the atmosphere was tense but there was no sign of uneasiness or funk […]

3. (countable) One who fears or panics; a coward.
   • 1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style:

     It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.

• funkhole

funk (third-person singular simple present funks, present participle funking, simple past and past participle funked)

1. (ambitransitive) To shrink from, or avoid something because of fear.
   • 1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     He'll have funked it , when he comes to the edge , and sees nothing but mist below

   • 1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style:

     It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 56:

     "Always wanted a go at the figure. Funked it. Shows what a man can do, given the right model. Dam' good model."

2. (transitive) To frighten; to cause to flinch.

• funker

From English funk. Attested since 1977.

funk c (singular definite funken, not used in plural form)

1. (music) funk

• funkmusik

• funkband
• funkgruppe
• funkmusik

• funky

See funke.

funk

1. imperative of funke

• “funk” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from English funk.

• IPA^(key): /fʏŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: funk

funk m (uncountable)

1. funk (music style)

From English funk.

funk m (definite singular funken, uncountable)

1. (music) funk

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

funk

1. imperative of funke

funk (present tense funke, past tense funka, past participle funka)

1. (dialectal, Trøndelag, Northern Norway) alternative form of funke

(the dialectal form): The ending -e in present tense is reduced in the negation form (while spoken). Hence the written form "funk itj" is used, when the standard spelling is "funkar ikkje". Compare to phrases like "æ årsk itj" ("I do not bother").

Unadapted borrowing from English funk.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaŋk/
• Rhymes: -aŋk
• Syllabification: funk

funk m inan

1. funk (genre of popular music)

   Synonym: funky

Back-formation from funkcjonariusz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfuŋk/
• Rhymes: -uŋk
• Syllabification: funk

funk m pers

1. (historical, rare) official, officer, agent, functionary (paid official of a political party or state security institution)
   • 1996, Henryk Pająk, Rządy zbirów: 1940-1990:

     W czołowym dzienniku polskojęzycznym uczą nas demokracji, tolerancji, europejskości synale wybitnych funków Komunistycznej Partii Polski, KPZU.

     In the leading Polish-language daily, we are taught democracy, tolerance, and European-ness by the sons of prominent officials of the Communist Party of Poland, CPWU.

This word used primarily to refer to functionaries of former communist parties (especially the Communist Party of Poland), as well as organs of the communist state.

• funk in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• funk in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English funk.

funk m (plural funks)

1. (music, uncountable) funk (a genre of popular music derived from soul music)
2. (Brazil, music, uncountable) funk carioca (Brazilian music genre derived from Miami bass)
3. (Brazil, music) a particular song or composition of funk carioca

• funkeiro, baile funk

Borrowed from English funk.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfank/ [ˈfãŋk]
• Rhymes: -ank

funk m (uncountable)

1. (music) funk