unc

See also: UNC

English

Alternative forms

• unk

Etymology 1

Clipping of uncle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌŋk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Noun

unc (plural uncs)

1. (colloquial) Clipping of uncle.
2. (originally African-American Vernacular, Internet slang) An older male relative.
   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     Then Pangborn would find him and ask him what he thought he was doing here. He would ask if Ace had a job. He didn't, and he couldn't even claim he had come back to visit his unc, because Pop had been in his junkshop when the place burned down.

   1. (by extension) Any older man, especially middle-aged.
      • 2024 March 11, Kyle Swenson, Amber Ferguson, “A TikToker raised $400K for an unhoused man. Then things got messy.”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 March 2024:

        Yo, TikTok, we need to raise money for Unc.

      • 2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 March 2025:

        Now he’s [Hasan Piker] thirty-three—so old, in streamer years, that his fans call him “unc.”

      • 2025 December 22, Anna Silman, “This Is the Year Millennials Officially Got Old”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

        We are now unc and frequently also washed.

        (Can we archive this URL?)

Synonyms

• unkie
• unky

References

• “Unk, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Etymology 2

Clipping of uncoordinated.

Noun

unc (plural uncs)

1. (genomics) A phenotype of Caenorhabditis elegans that moves in an uncoordinated manner.
   • 1979, David Hirsh et al., Eucaryotic gene regulation‎^[4]:

     The Bristol chromosome I was marked with mutations in two widely spaced genes, dpy-5 (e61 ) and unc-54 (el 90). A strain homozygous for these markers is dumpy and uncoordinated.

   • 1999, Aloi, Jane Elizabeth, Student study guide to accompany general zoology‎^[5]:

     The most intriging mutated gene is called an "unc" gene for uncoordinated. In this mutant, the modified gene is expressed as an alteration of the muscle tissue. The worm does not move in the typical nematode fashion. Insights concerning the modified mechanism in these "unc" worms may provide insight into such diseases as muscular dystrophy.

   • 2006, Caldwell, Guy A, Integrated genomics : a discovery-based laboratory course‎^[6], page 207:

     Unc animals do not move in the normal sinusoidal pattern of wildtype animals.

   • 2017, Meneely, Philip Mark, author, Genetics : genes, genomes, and evolution‎^[7]:

     Mutations in the lon-2 gene result in worms that are unusually long (Lon), while mutations in the unc-78 gene result in worms that are uncoordinated (Unc).

Anagrams

• NUC, cun, nuc

Middle English

Pronoun

unc

1. alternative form of unk

Old English

Etymology

A conflation of Proto-Germanic *unk (accusative) and *unkiz (dative).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /unk/, [uŋk]

Pronoun

unc

1. accusative/dative of wit: (to) us two
   • "The Wife's Lament", line 10

     Ongunnon þæt þæs monnes magas hycgan þurh dyrne geþoht, þæt hy todælden unc.

     The person's relatives began to think of a secret plan to separate us both.

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *unkwiz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éngʷʰis (“snake”).

Noun

unc m

1. snake
2. toad

Descendants

• German: Unke