plunk

See also: Plunk

English

WOTD – 23 August 2025

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Scotland) IPA^(key): /plʌŋk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic; the noun is attested earlier than the verb. Noun noun sense 3 (“dollar; large sum of money”) may refer to the sound of a coin hitting a surface. Compare plonk, plink.

As regards verb verb sense 1.4 (“(transitive) to drop, set, or throw (something, or oneself) abruptly and/or heavily”) and verb sense 2.4 (“(intransitive) to drop, land, or set abruptly and/or heavily”), compare French plonquer (Picardy), a variant of plonger (“to plunge”).

Noun

plunk (plural plunks)

1. A brief, dull sound, such as the sound of a string of a stringed instrument being plucked, or the thud of something landing on a surface.

   (thud): Synonyms: plonk, plump

   • 1930 July 21, Arthur Ransome, “The Charcoal-burners”, in Swallows & Amazons, London: Jonathan Cape, […], published 1953, →OCLC, page 131:

     They listened and could hear the steady plunk, plunk of an axe somewhere far above them.

2. (informal) A (heavy) blow or hit.
4. (slang)
   1. (US, archaic or obsolete) A dollar.
      • 1885 September 16, “A Terrible Experience”, in H[enry] C[uyler] Bunner, editor, Puck, volume XVIII, number 445, New York, N.Y.: Keppler & Schwarzmann, →OCLC, page 43, column 3:

        Den I gives him a five-plunk piece, and he gins me the shange.

      • 1910 May 11, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Spike’s Views”, in The Intrusion of Jimmy [A Gentleman of Leisure], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published 1910, →OCLC, page 126:

        Dere's a loidy here […] dat's got a necklace of jools what's wort' a hundred t'ousand plunks. Honest, boss. A hundred t'ousand plunks.

   2. (obsolete, rare) A large sum of money.

Derived terms

• kerplunk
• plunkety-plunk
• plunky

Translations

brief, dull sound

• Finnish: tömähdys (fi) (thud)
• French: please add this translation if you can

(heavy) blow or hit — see blow,‎ hit

dollar — see dollar

Adverb

plunk (not comparable) (originally Scotland, informal)

1. With a brief, dull sound, such as the thud of something landing on a surface.
2. (by extension) Directly, exactly, precisely.

   Synonyms: plump; see also Thesaurus:exactly

   • 1897, S[amuel] R[utherford] Crockett, “Wager of Battle”, in Lads’ Love, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 55–56:

     "Bang!" went a gun behind me. I heard the whistle of shot. Something stung me sharply on the cheek, and I fell forward on my face, giving myself up for lost. […] "Oh, ye will never dee o' a chairge o' guid saft garden peas!" said the daft lassie, scornfully. "Maybe no," retorted I, for my choler was raised. "They are a' vera weel in broth, but if you got them plunk on the jaw, wi' a strong chairge o' powder ahint them, they might bring the water to your e'en as well as mine."

     "Oh, you will never die of a charge of good soft garden peas!" […] / "Maybe not, […] They are all very well in broth, but if you got them plunk on the jaw, with a strong charge of powder behind them, they might bring the water to your eyes as well as mine."

   • 1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter V, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 75:

     [I]t's one thing to be buried with all your pleasures, like Sardanapalus; it's another to be buried right plunk in front of them, where you can see them.

Translations

with a brief, dull sound

• Finnish: tömähtäen
• French: please add this translation if you can

directly, exactly, precisely — see directly,‎ exactly,‎ precisely

Interjection

plunk

1. Often reduplicated: used to represent a brief, dull sound, such as the sound of a string of a stringed instrument being plucked, or the thud of something landing on a surface.
   • 1892, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, in The American Claimant, New York, N.Y.: Charles L[uther] Webster & Co., →OCLC, page 196:

     Look at me; is my eye dilated? do you notice a quiver anywhere? Feel my pulse: plunk—plunk—plunk—same as if I were asleep.

   • 1930 July 21, Arthur Ransome, “Titty Alone”, in Swallows & Amazons, London: Jonathan Cape, […], published 1953, →OCLC, page 207:

     It was the noise of rowing, hard, fast rowing, the noise of two pairs of oars in a native boat, pin oars, and the slap, slap of a boat's bows into the short waves. She knew that noise well. It came nearer and nearer. It passed close by her. Plunk, plunk. She could hear the splash of the oars so clearly that she almost thought she could see the boat in the dark.

   • 1936, Arthur Ransome, “A Run on Blowpipes”, in Pigeon Post, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published October 1944, →OCLC, page 292:

     John, swinging the axe, plunk, plunk, plunk, was chopping the thinner branches all to the same length.

Translations

used to represent a brief, dull sound

• Finnish: tömps (thud)
• French: please add this translation if you can

Verb

plunk (third-person singular simple present plunks, present participle plunking, simple past and past participle plunked)

1. (transitive)
   1. To move (something) with a sudden push.
      • 1893, Rudyard Kipling, “The Disturber of Traffic”, in Many Inventions, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 16:

        The moving galley's bow was plunking them [oars] back through their own oar-holes, and I could hear no end of a shindy in the decks below.

   2. (figurative) Chiefly followed by down or out: to pay (money); to plank.
      • 1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Hotel Concert”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909, →OCLC, page 373:

        Just let them tell him a thing is pretty and fashionable, and Matthew plunks his money down for it.

   3. (music) To pluck and quickly release (a string of a stringed instrument); also, to play (a stringed instrument) by plucking strings; to play (a piano, etc.) by striking keys; or, to play (a note or tune) on such an instrument.

      Synonym: (stringed instrument) twang

      • 2010, Joan Wickersham, “The Boys’ School, or The News from Spain”, in Sven Birkerts, editor, AGNI, number 72, Boston, Mass.: Boston University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26:

        Your bass teacher loathed you for loathing the instrument. Every lesson was the same: You would plunk out a few notes, and he would stop you. "Did you practice?" / "Some," you would say. / "You have to practice." / "I know." / Practicing was the most boring thing you had ever done. Plunk plunk plunk (rest). Plunk plunk plunk (rest). That was pretty much how the double bass part went in every piece of music your teacher assigned you. He was right, you never practiced.

      • 2025 September 6, Catherine Pearson, “She Started the Debate About Kids and Phones. Now She Wants to End It.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

        Her friends were boggled by how long it took her to plunk out simple texts, but Kate says she learned skills her peers have never had to master.

        (Can we archive this URL?)

   5. (also reflexive, originally Scotland) Often followed by down: to drop, set, or throw (something, or oneself) abruptly and/or heavily into or on to a surface or some other thing, making a dull sound; to plump.

      Synonyms: flump, thud

      Enrique plunked his money down on the counter with a sigh and bellied up to the bar.

      Exhausted, she plunked herself on the sofa.

   6. (chiefly US) To hit or injure (someone or something); also, to shoot (someone or something) with a firearm.
      • 1896, Stephen Crane, chapter V, in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 43:

        Say, I jes' jumped d' bar, an' d' way I plunked [hit] dat bloke was outa sight. See? Dat's right! In d' jaw!

      1. (baseball) To pitch a ball in a way that it hits (a player).

         The Braves retaliated by plunking Harper in the next inning.

2. (intransitive)
   1. To make a brief, dull sound, such as the thud of something landing on a surface; to thud.
   2. (figurative) Followed by for: to choose, to opt; to plump.
   3. (music) To pluck and quickly release a string of a musical instrument; also, to play a stringed instrument by plucking strings; to play a piano, etc., by striking keys; or, to play a note or tune on such an instrument.
      • 1978, Gore Vidal, chapter 3, in Kalki […], New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 153:

        [D]eafening was what H. V. W. would call the din from the rock stars' dressing rooms where electric guitars whined, drums rattled, sitars plunked; and marijuana made the air a tender blue.

   5. (originally Scotland) Often followed by down: to drop, land, or set abruptly and/or heavily into or on to a surface or some other thing with a dull sound; to plump down.
   6. (obsolete) Of a raven: to croak.

Derived terms

• plunker
• plunking (adjective, noun)

Translations

(transitive) to move (something) with a sudden push

• Finnish: sysätä (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can

(transitive) to pay (money) — see pay

(transitive) to pluck and quickly release (a string of a stringed instrument); (intransitive) to pluck and quickly release a string of a musical instrument — see pluck,‎ twang

(transitive) to play (a stringed instrument) by plucking strings; to play (a piano, etc.) by striking keys; to play (a note or tune) on such an instrument; (intransitive) to play a stringed instrument by plucking strings; to play a piano, etc., by striking keys; to play a note or tune on such an instrument — see play

(transitive) to drop, set, or throw (something, or oneself) abruptly and/or heavily into or on to a surface or some other thing, making a dull sound — see flump,‎ plump,‎ thud

(transitive) to hit or injure (someone or something) — see hit,‎ injure

(transitive) to shoot (someone or something) with a firearm — see shoot

(transitive) to pitch a ball in a way that it hits (a player)

• Finnish: syöttää pelaajaa päin
• French: please add this translation if you can

(intransitive) to make a brief, dull sound, such as the thud of something landing on a surface — see thud

(intransitive) to choose, to opt — see choose,‎ opt

(intransitive) to drop, land, or set abruptly and/or heavily into or on to a surface or some other thing with a dull sound — see plump

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain; possibly the same as plunk (etymology 1), or related to Dutch plenken (“(archaic) to wander around; (Limburg, archaic) to play truant”).

Verb

plunk (third-person singular simple present plunks, present participle plunking, simple past and past participle plunked) (Scotland)

1. (transitive) To be absent from (school) without permission; to be a truant.
2. (intransitive) To play truant.
   • 1979, Lavinia Derwent [pseudonym; Elizabeth Dodd], chapter I, in A Border Bairn, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 12:

     Unless we repented and humbly begged for mercy … I might as well tell lies, break crockery, kick the cat, plunk from school, and enjoy my transgressions.

Translations

to be absent from (school) without permission; to play truant — see play truant

Further reading

• “plunk, v.²”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.