hunker

English

WOTD – 10 March 2008

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋkə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌŋkɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

Originally Scottish. Origin uncertain, but probably of Germanic origin, perhaps *hunk- a nasalised variant of *huk- (compare Scots hoonk, hounk, variants of huk, hok (“to squat, crouch”); Scots hocker (“to crouch down, hunker”)), all of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse huka (“to crouch”), from Proto-Germanic *hūkan- (“to squat”), from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh₂, from *kewk- (“to curve, bend”) (also the source of high).

Probable cognates include Old Norse húka, Dutch huiken, and German hocken.

Verb

hunker (third-person singular simple present hunkers, present participle hunkering, simple past and past participle hunkered)

1. (intransitive) To crouch or squat close to the ground or lie down
2. (intransitive) To apply oneself to a task

Synonyms

• (crouch, squat or lie): crouch, squat, lie

Derived terms

• hunkers
• hunker down

Translations

To crouch, squat or lie down

• Bulgarian: приклякам (prikljakam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蹲下 (zh) (dūnxià)

• Finnish: kyykistyä (fi), kyykkiä (fi)
• French: s’accroupir (fr)
• German: hocken (de), ducken (de), kauern (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: しゃがむ (shagamu)
• Polish: kucać (pl)
• Portuguese: ficar de cócoras
• Russian: сиде́ть на ко́рточках impf (sidétʹ na kórtočkax)
• Spanish: encuclillarse (es), acurrucarse (es)
• Ukrainian: присі́сти на ноги (prysísty na nohy), сі́сти навпо́чіпки (sísty navpóčipky)

Etymology 2

Unknown

Noun

hunker (plural hunkers)

1. (dated) A political conservative.

Derived terms

• hunkerous

See also

• hunkers

Anagrams

• Ruhnke

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʏŋkər

Verb

hunker

1. (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of hunkeren
2. (deprecated template usage) imperative of hunkeren

Anagrams

• hurken