nark

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: näk, IPA: /nɑːk/, X-SAMPA: /nA:k/
• (US) enPR: närk, IPA: /nɑːɹk/, X-SAMPA: /nA:r\k/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k

Etymology 1

From Romani nak.

Noun

nark (plural narks)

1. (UK, slang) A police spy or informer.
   • 1912, George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion, Act I,

     It’s a—well, it’s a copper’s nark, as you might say. What else would you call it? A sort of informer.

Translations

police spy

• Portuguese: bufo (pt)

Verb

nark (third-person singular simple present narks, present participle narking, simple past and past participle narked)

1. (transitive, slang) To annoy or irritate.

   It really narks me when people smoke in restaurants.

2. (transitive, slang, often imperative) To stop.

   Nark it! I hear someone coming!

3. (intransitive, slang) To serve or behave as a spy or informer.
4. (intransitive, slang) To complain.

   He narks in my ear all day, moaning about his problems.

Translations

annoy

• German: nerven (de)

stop

• Dutch: (Netherlands) kappen (nl)

serve as a spy

complain

• Dutch: (Belgium) neuten (nl)

Etymology 2

see narc

Noun

nark (plural narks)

1. (US, slang) A narcotics law enforcement officer.

References

• “nark” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

Anagrams

• ARNK, knar, rank