skunk

See also: Skunk

English

A striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʌŋk/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Etymology 1

From an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Abenaki segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. Any of various small mammals, of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
   • 1634, William Wood, New Englands Prospect:

     The beaſts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes, whoſe impudence ſometimes drives them to the good wives Hen rooſt […].

2. (slang) A despicable person.
3. (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score. Compare shutout.
4. (cribbage) A win by 30 or more points.

Derived terms

• drunk as a skunk
• skunk at a garden party
• skunky

Descendants

• → Czech: skunk
• → Danish: skunk
• → Finnish: skunkki
• → Icelandic: skunkur
• → Japanese: スカンク (sukanku)
• → Norwegian: skunk
• → Polish: skunks
• → Russian: скунс (skuns)
• → Slovak: skunk
• → Swedish: skunk

Translations

animal

• Abenaki: segôgw
• Albanian: qelbës (sq) m
• Algonquin: cigàg
• Apache:

  Western Apache: golízhi

• Arabic: ظَرِبَان m (ẓaribān)
• Arapaho: xoo, xou
• Arikara: níwit
• Armenian: սկունս (hy) (skuns), ժանտաքիս (hy) (žantakʻis)
• Atakapa: šikitiš
• Ayautla Mazatec: tjiuxikja
• Aymara: añuthaya
• Azerbaijani: skuns
• Belarusian: скунс m (skuns)
• Breton: skoñs m
• Bulgarian: скунс m (skuns)
• Carrier: hoonliz
• Catalan: mofeta f
• Cebuano: milô
• Cherokee: ᏗᎳ (dila)
• Cheyenne: xāō'o
• Chickasaw: koni
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 臭鼬 (cau³ jau⁶)

  Mandarin: 臭鼬 (zh) (chòuyòu)

• Chitimacha: kištˀeˀe
• Choctaw: konih
• Comanche: pohniʔatsi̱
• Cree: ᓯᑳᐠ (sikâk)
• Creek: kono
• Czech: skunk (cs) m
• Dogrib: nǫtsı̨
• Dutch: stinkdier (nl)
• Erzya: чинебача (čińebača)
• Esperanto: mefito
• Estonian: skunk (et), vinuk
• Faroese: stinkdýr n
• Finnish: haisunäätä (fi), skunkki (fi)
• Fox: shekâkwa
• French: mouffette (fr) f, sconse (fr) m, putois (fr) m
• Galician: mofeta (gl) f
• Georgian: სკუნსი (sḳunsi), მყრალა (mq̇rala)
• German: Stinktier (de) n, Skunk (de) m
• Greek: μεφίτιδα (el) f (mefítida)
• Gros Ventre: θouu
• Guaraní: jaguane
• Hawaiian: ponī
• Hebrew: בּוּאֵשׁ m (boesh)
• Hindi: स्कंक (hi) m (skaṅk)
• Hungarian: bűzösborz
• Icelandic: skunkur m
• Ido: mofeto (io)
• Indonesian: sigung (id)
• Ineseño: taxama
• Interlingua: moffetta, skunk
• Irish: scúnc f
• Isthmus Zapotec: beʼteʼ
• Italian: moffetta (it) f, puzzola (it) f
• Japanese: スカンク (ja) (sukanku)
• Kashaya: nupʰeˑ
• Kickapoo: sekaakwa
• Korean: 스컹크 (ko) (seukeongkeu)
• Lakota: maká
• Lao: ພຽງພອນເໝັນ (phīang phǭn men), ແມວຂົ້ວໂລກ (mǣu khūa lōk), ມູເຟັດ (mū fet), ສະກັງ (sa kang)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: skunkss m
• Lithuanian: skunkas m
• Macedonian: твор m (tvor)
• Malay: skunk
• Maricopa: milxwe
• Menominee: seka·k
• Mi'kmaq: apigjilu anim, apugjilu anim
• Miami: šikaakwa
• Mingrelian: სკუნსი (sḳunsi)
• Mohegan-Pequot: skôks
• Mongolian: өмхий хүрэн (ömxii xüren)
• Nahuatl: epatl (nah), yepatl (nah)
• Nanticoke: laa!waa!quepuss
• Natchez: šic
• Navajo: gólízhii
• Nawathinehena: saoθ
• Neapolitan: cajorda f
• Norwegian: skunk m, stinkdyr n
• Obispeño: tqema
• Ojibwe: zhigaag
• Oneida: aní·tas
• Pashto: ژګاګ (ps) (žigâg)
• Pawnee: ríwit
• Plains Apache: dookats’į́łtshesá
• Polish: skunks (pl) m
• Portuguese: cangambá m, gambá (pt) m, doninha fedorenta f (Portugal)
• Quapaw: mą́ka
• Quechua: añas (qu)
• Romanian: sconcs (ro) m
• Romansch: scunc m
• Russian: скунс (ru) m (skuns), воню́чка (ru) f (vonjúčka)
• Salinan: šowá
• San Jerónimo Tecóatl Mazatec: xíkjá
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: твор m

  Roman: tvor (sh) m

• Seri: sliitxcoj
• Shona: chidembo
• Shuswap: sts̓ípeq
• Slovak: skunk m
• Slovene: dihur (sl) m
• Southern Ohlone: yaawi (big)
• Spanish: mofeta (es) f (Spain), zorro hediondo m (Costa Rica), zorrillo (es) m (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua), chingue (es) (Chile)
• Swahili: kinyegere class 7/8
• Swedish: skunk (sv) c
• Taos: kùylulúna
• Thai: สกังก์ (sà-gáng)
• Tibetan: ཏེ་ལོ (te lo)
• Turkish: kokarca (tr)
• Ukrainian: скунс m (skuns)
• Unami: shkakw
• Uyghur: سېسىق كۈزەن (sësiq küzen)
• Uzbek: kokarca (uz), skuns
• Ventureño: taxama
• Vietnamese: chồn hôi
• Welsh: drewgi m
• Western Ojibwa: sikāk
• Wolof: jab bi
• Yiddish: טכויר m (tkhoyr)
• Yokuts:

  Buena Vista Yokuts: (Tulamni, Hometwoli)

  Southern Valley Yokuts: (Yawelmani)

despicable person

• Finnish: hylkiö (fi)
• French: salaud (fr) m, mufle (fr) m, canaille (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: camelo (pt) m
• Russian: подле́ц (ru) m (podléc), негодя́й (ru) m (negodjáj), мерза́вец (ru) m (merzávec)

skunkweed — see marijuana

walkover victory

• Finnish: murskavoitto (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: cappotto (it) m

Verb

skunk (third-person singular simple present skunks, present participle skunking, simple past and past participle skunked)

1. To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.

   I skunked him at cards.

   We fished all day but the lake skunked us.

2. (cribbage) To win by 30 or more points.
3. (intransitive, of beer) To go bad, to spoil.

See also

• Mephitis
• Spilogale
• Conepatus
• polecat

Etymology 2

Blend of skinhead +‎ punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture.
   • 2006, Pam Nilan, Carles Feixa, Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds (page 192)

     In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks.

   • 2011, Gerard DeGroot (quoting Brown), Seventies Unplugged

     […] mods, skins, suedes, smoothies, punks, skunks, rude boys, soul boys and headbangers […]

Etymology 3

From skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”)

Noun

skunk (countable and uncountable, plural skunks)

1. (slang) Clipping of skunkweed (marijuana).
2. Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish.

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Czech

Noun

1. skunk (animal)

Further reading

• Template:R:PSJC
• Template:R:SSJC

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English skunk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʏŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: skunk

Noun

skunk m (uncountable)

1. skunk, weed with a high level of THC

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Swedish

Noun

skunk c

1. a skunk

Declension

Declension of skunk
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	skunk	skunken	skunkar	skunkarna
Genitive	skunks	skunkens	skunkars	skunkarnas